Music seen, at the Merrill Auditorium, April 7, 2007
By SONYA TOMLINSON | April 11, 2007
Last Saturday night my mom offered me tickets to a show at Merrill Auditorium. The show was by a group called the Capitol Steps, apparently a staple on NPR (my favorite radio station), but I wasn’t familiar. After a quick look at the political-comedy/musical troupe's Web site, I couldn't turn down her generous offer. There’s nothing like poking fun at our current administration, right? We took our seats and people piled in right up until show time. There wasn’t an empty chair in sight. The show was opened by former governor Angus King, who reminded us that in most other countries, where free speech is not taken to so kindly, these performers would likely be in jail. The troupe came out in full force as Hillary Clinton, Ted Kennedy, Nancy Pelosi, and Al Gore. This cast of mostly former Capitol Hill staffers leaves no political leaf unturned. They use their craft to expose and poke fun at those involved in a manner that’s accessible to an audience through show tunes and American classics, and with talent to boot. Accompanied by a pianist, they create parodies based on current politics, global issues, or media darlings. The impressions, choreography, and costumes are spot on. When they came out for their final bow my jaw dropped when I realized it was a mere cast of five that pumped out an hour and forty-five minutes of material and more than 25 characters. Check out their Web site at www.capsteps.com. They visit Maine just about every year, so be sure to look out for their next performance.
Related:
Crossword: 'C the USA', Nobelity, Crossword: ''A new beginning'', More 
- Crossword: 'C the USA'
Goddess of discord
- Nobelity
Turk Pipkin is a laid-back Texan who chews on issues as if they were the end of a hay straw. Watch the trailer for Nobelity
- Crossword: ''A new beginning''
Here we go again!
- Interview: The Low Anthem
The Low Anthem return home — for just a little while
- Hear! Hear!
The sound of smashing glass plays beneath a micro-cassette recording of children laughing, and Spanish instructions repeat while a chorus of monks narrate the proceedings in Latin.
- Hollywood Babel on
The Academy Awards is one of the few contests where the closeness of the race is in direct proportion to the lack of interest.
- Why ‘fairness’ fails
Anyone who has ever sampled the auditory sewer that is right-wing talk radio can understand the impulse to reinstate the so-called “fairness doctrine.”
- What's wrong with Augusta?
Charlie Colgan couldn't predict a recession if its arrival was signaled by warning lights and sirens.
- The hub of film criticism?
In his deep survey, Gerald Peary hardly conceals his opinion that Boston is the epicenter of film criticism.
- Making waves
Rhode Island’s upstart National Public Radio affiliate, WRNI, aims to be nothing less than a major media player here. And in the space of just a couple of years, the station has taken some impressive first steps.
- WBUR slashes arts coverage
WBUR, the Boston-based, Boston University-owned NPR radio affiliate, will no longer carry arts reviews, the station’s long-time critic and editor Bill Marx said Thursday.
- Less
Topics:
New England Music News
, National Public Radio Inc., Al Gore, Angus King
