Matt “Smut” Cameron and Roy “Prurient” Sexton (Photo by Victoria Gilbert)

Wow – this Tomfoolery is such a fun show to do! We’ve added an encore date to our sold-out run of Tom Lehrer’s Tomfoolery: November 9, dinner around 6 pm, show 8 pm – get your tickets pronto here.

Thanks to Mark Lezotte, Patti Little, John DeMerell, Rebecca Hardin and family, Rebecca Dale Winder, Nan Reed Twiss, Ian Reed Twiss, Jim and Linda O’Hara Cameron, Ed and Anne Young, Esther Dale, Leslie Pardo, Steve Pardo, and, heaven knows, anyone I missed who came to see the show last night! Such an appreciative and delightful audience, and we (Laura Sagolla, Lauren M. London, Matt Cameron, Brent Stansfield, Rebecca Biber, Skippy Hankes) seem to be hitting our stride. This show is just unadulterated yet saucy fun! TWO more shows now – 10/23 is sold out, but tickets are still available for 11/9. Don’t miss it!

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Brent “Shredder” Stansfield (Photo by Victoria Gilbert)

Through the month of October, The Penny Seats have enjoyed a sold-out run of the musical revue Tomfoolery, celebrating the words and music of satirist, mathematician, and cult favorite, Tom Lehrer, at Ann Arbor’s Conor O’Neill’s Irish Pub and Restaurant, 318 South Main Street, Ann Arbor. The two companies have partnered to offer this cabaret-style show, with dinner seatings available starting around 6:00 pm, and performances at 8:00pm. Due to high demand, an additional performance date has been added: November 9. Audience members can purchase tickets for the dinner-and-show package for just $20, or for the show only, for $10. Advance tickets (which are encouraged) are available online at www.pennyseats.org or by phone at (734) 926-5346.

Featured performers are Ann Arborites Matt Cameron, Laura Sagolla and R. Brent Stansfield, and Roy Sexton of Saline. Lauren London (of Ann Arbor) directs the show, with musical direction and accompaniment by Rebecca Biber (also of Ann Arbor). Victoria Gilbert (of Ypsilanti) oversees choreography, and Stephen Hankes (of Ann Arbor) designed the set and will stage manage the show.

Laura “Tectonic Plates” Sagolla and Lauren “Plate Tectonics” London (Photo by Victoria Gilbert)

In his review for Encore Michigan, Martin F. Kohn writes, “A spirited four-person cast and piano accompanist have a ball with such Lehrer favorites as ‘Be Prepared’ (‘Don’t solicit for your sister, that’s not nice/ Unless you get a good percentage of the price’), ‘The Masochism Tango’ (‘You can raise welts/ Like nobody else’), ‘The Vatican Rag’ (‘Ave Maria/ Gee it’s good to see ya’) and ‘The Irish Ballad’ (‘She weighted her brother down with stones/ Rickety-tickety-tin…/And sent him off to Davy Jones’). … Matt Cameron, Laura Sagolla, Roy Sexton and Brent Stansfield are lusty singers whose appreciation for the material is fully evident. … Director Lauren London has added inspired props and bits of business to many of the numbers.”

Fellow critic Davi Napoleon observes, “I suppose it’s kind of mean to tell you how much fun Tomfoolery is – they keep adding chairs to accommodate the crowds, but I doubt the room at Connor O’Neill’s will even have SRO for the next show. But really, it’s that much fun. … Maybe The Penny Seats can be talked into extending the run. … In fact, they should ‘be prepared’ to spend every week at Conor O’Nell’s. I’m expecting a long, long run …”

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Tomfoolery

Reel Roy Reviews is now a book! Thanks to BroadwayWorld for this coverage – click here to view.

In addition to online ordering at Amazon or from the publisher Open Books, the book currently is being carried by Bookbound, Common Language Bookstore, and Crazy Wisdom Bookstore and Tea Room in Ann Arbor, Michigan and by Green Brain Comics in Dearborn, Michigan.

My mom Susie Duncan Sexton’s Secrets of an Old Typewriter series is also available on Amazon and at Bookbound and Common