I treated myself to some live comedy theater on Tuesday night and took in the first night of This Is The Week That Is, 1812 Productions’ perennial winter look back on the year (that is) in politics and news. And boy was it a year. I’m a repeat customer. I love this show and, about four or five winters ago, I was brought on stage, while reviewing the show for the Weekly, to run for president (they do it every year with an unknowing audience member). Here are seven things about the show!
1. What a stage speech! It was a bit but I loved it. The show opens with Jennifer Childs, the show’s Head Writer, Director, and 1812’s Producing Artistic Director, delivering the standards before a show (turn off your camera, please see our other shows, give us money, etc.) but initiating a joke that felt just right. Collectively, as the whole cast arrives on stage, the laugh was that none of them really wanted to get started talking about 2018’s litany of dumpster fires. Even as Childs leads the number, the video panels behind her were populated by images of protesters, hurricanes and fires, kids in cages and the like. It was almost alarmingly surreal — I knew we’d look back at a pretty objectively terrible year but the natural smart joke, too, before the full show launched with a dystopian visit to Mister Rogers' Neighborhood's "Neighborhood of Make-Believe," was a bit based on the exclamation many of us are all too familiar with. ‘THAT WAS IN 2018?!’ Like the Eagles winning the Super Bowl or Stormy Daniels. We've already pushed so much of 2018 out of our brains.
2. I’m just going to go ahead and give a little bit of the show away. There’s a fantastic section of the show in which the political escape to whiskey and musical theater is well-expressed. They took the melody and phrasing of popular musicals and parsed in clever political commentary. Boy was I here for a send-up to Fiddler on the Roof - and just think about how you could substitute “Tradition” with “Collusion.” In fact, Justin Jain’s turn as Melania, in full drag, was wedged into an Evita moment that yielded some great collective laughs.
3. Wigs, wigs, wigs! There’s a lot of fun with costuming and wardrobe. Some wigs are terrible, purposefully terrible-looking I assume, and some are fantastic. Jain’s Melania wig was great. But Rob Tucker really steals the show with an Oprah number that I wish I could watch on YouTube right now, over and over. This is the Week definitely goes hard on 2020 Democratic presidential candidate speculation, including none other than bemusing potential for celebrities like Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson or Oprah Winfrey running. Tucker’s Oprah, singing the iconic “And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going” from Dreamgirls, is iconic. Instantly. The flowy silk purple number he was wearing, the killer vocals (Tucker can BLOW, honey), the “YOU GET A CAR” - it was brilliant. But to be fair, Dave Jadico’s Bernie Sanders and Sean Close’s Elizabeth Warren was fantastic and they did a clever spin on “Anything You Can Do”... I can do lefter.
4. As a brief aside, I felt so young. Philadelphia theater rooms continue to be fully populated by maybe 90% senior citizens. I wish it weren’t the case. And this phenomenon was compounded by a sketch from the show’s post-intermission news desk segment, which Close handles quite well, in which Jain and Tanaquil Marquez provide a Millennial moment and break down a glossary of sorts. I cringed as Jain and Marquez portrayed air-headed youths, even as they defined it for us as those born and raised in the ‘80s and ‘90s (me, guilty), who speak their own language with acronyms and eye rolls. I realized that I speak this language fluently and that it is striking that there are people sitting in a seat across the aisle from me who may not immediately understand what IDGAF or GTFO means. Or what “insta stories” are. I think this was a small taste of the truth being a little too real, because I felt personally attacked.
5. Patsy, hon, from Shunk Street! I’ve heard it said, from people on the internet, that Patsy is somehow a disrespectful amalgam of South Philadelphian stereotypes. The marble-mouthed stoop sitter who works in a reference to “ACK-A-ME” or “wooder” delivered a very heartfelt message. And I loved it. Patsy tells the story of watching a Mexican family move in across the street and how the block was shook but she did her best to try to understand her new neighbors. She met "Maria" and Pats says ‘Hey, my best friends are Marie Consentino, Marie Fettucini and Marie Gabigol!’ (I made those names up.) They exchange a fried dough gesture of fellowship and call it a day! Then some super-charming footage rolls of Pats going to the Italian Market and celebrating every culture on Ninth Street, despite her husband’s protestations, that flourishes in the Market. Which reminds me — try that new Greek joint ASAP.
6. So much song and dance. They did a great job with a ton of live musical touches - an organ, a full band, great musical odes. And I will say that even Childs’ kumbaya message of togetherness in the program, paired with the finale performance of The Beatles' “We Can Work It Out” as an homage to reaching-across-the-aisle in D.C., is a little much for me. But only because I’m a raging homosexual Democrat who has no desire to work with anyone from the Republican Party. But I forgot, even though I saw Childs in 1812’s I Will Not Go Gently, that she rips as a drummer! There is nothing cooler than a woman behind a drum kit.
7. Go see this show, it’s a delight. It’s great for a few belly laughs and it’s a great company that deserves support. This is the kind of show that all of your friends and family can enjoy - your mom or uncle or bubbe - there’s something for everyone. And shout out to the dad joke that erupted from the guy behind me when Sean Close concluded a joke about Jeff Sessions going to hell and he hollered “NOT FAST ENOUGH!” The crowd simply loved it and Close could only just let the crowd settle down. It was cute and I was proud of him.
THIS IS THE WEEK THAT IS runs until Saturday, January 5th at Plays & Players Theatre, 1714 Delancey Place. Have a drink at Quig's upstairs after the show. It's great up there. Here'sa link to tickets: TICKETS ARE $38—$44 AND THERE ARE SUNDAY MATINEES.