Irish Ballad (Photo by Victoria Gilbert)

Through the month of October, The Penny Seats 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.

Silent E (Photo by Victoria Gilbert)

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.

Poisoning Pigeons in the Park (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.”

Masochism Tango (Photo by Victoria Gilbert)

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 …”

I Hold Your Hand in Mine (Photo by Victoria Gilbert)

With the announcement of the additional performance, music director Rebecca Biber notes, “I am excited for this encore show, as I never grow tired of the material. Lehrer is a master satirist, not only of cultural tropes and historical moments, but of music itself.   He will pair a romantic parlor waltz with ghoulish lyrics, or use a peppy march to skewer jingoism and lockstep thinking. He always picks his musical forms for maximum humor and maximum discomfiture, and that funny/squirmy quality keeps us performers as engaged as our audience.”

She’s My Girl (Photo by Victoria Gilbert)

Cast member Brent Stansfield, a faculty member at the University of Michigan, echoes this sentiment, “The show combines all my favorite things in life: satire, science, jest, education, politics, math, irony, and of course music. Better yet, it does it in a smart, sassy, gleeful, and naughty way. The Penny Seats cast and crew is also smart, sassy, gleeful, and naughty and they bring an ocean of joy and verve to these songs. Best of all, ‘Tomfoolery’ is tailor-made for an Ann Arbor audience who, as I have now learned, can be relied upon to bring their own smarts, sass, glee, and naughtiness! Each show has been raucous and I have had so much fun performing in it.”

Folk Song Army (Photo by Victoria Gilbert)

Gonna Go Back to Dixie (Photo by Victoria Gilbert)

Director Lauren London, who was recently interviewed about the production alongside Conor O’Neill’s Caroline Kaganov for The Lucy Ann Lance Show, adds, “This show has been a pure delight, from the first rehearsal through every single performance. It plays to our strengths as a company and fits perfectly with the jovial tone at Conor O’Neill’s. It’s a comfortable, fabulously funny night, and we’re ecstatic that so many people want to experience it. This is one of those lightning-in-a-bottle moments for us. We couldn’t be happier with Conor’s as a partner, and I hope we have the chance to do this again, soon!”

We Will All Go Together (Photo by Victoria Gilbert)

Stansfield concludes, “Tom Lehrer’s work is beloved for good reason. He’s a sharp intellectual with a gallows humor (much like some of my other heroes: Edward Gorey, Ambrose Bierce, George Romero, et alia) and his songs are at once titillatingly dark and eerily catchy. His wit is incisive but never derisive. It’s so easy to fall in love with these songs that performing them for people who have never heard them before is an honor as much as it is a pleasure. I’ve been so excited to work with The Penny Seats again. Every rehearsal has been full of playfulness and silliness, and our director, Lauren London, has managed to funnel all of that love and sweat directly into the show. It’s 90 minutes of frenetic romp, but after each performance I’ve felt like doing the whole thing again. Well, maybe after a cold pint of beer. We are performing it in one of Ann Arbor’s best pubs, after all.”

For more information, visit the group’s website, www.pennyseats.org, or call 734-926-5346.

Tomfoolery

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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 Language.