Despite the pain, it's a status symbol for a public figure to be the target of barbs tossed out by the cast of Gridiron 2016: Bake America's Cake Again. There's no point in ridiculing a nobody.
To that end, more than 80 lawyers, judges, and other legal professionals took over the stage at Arkansas Repertory Theatre for the biennial musical comedy. The show, which opened Tuesday, is celebrating its 100th anniversary, having been created in 1916 when a few lawyers banded together to write and perform a vaudevillian-style luncheon show at the Marion Hotel with an all-male cast.
It's grown since then, added a lot of women to the list of eligible performers and raised the bar for professionalism. As fits the current political climate, very little is off-limits, and the targets of taunts benefit from having a thick skin.
Among those falling under the gaze of the gimlet eye: each and every Republican presidential candidate, including a very funny Ben Carson (Ed Walker) and doughnut-chomping Chris Christie (Joe Purvis), along with a hilarious prune-faced take on Donald Trump by Craig Wilson. Other victims include Gov. Asa Hutchinson (Perry Young) in a hog hat, doing an adorably silly dance demonstrating skill at sidestepping both critters (in the Governor's Mansion) and constituents. There's much more, such as Hillary Clinton (Kathryn Pryor) singing a duet with Hillary Spirit (Mary Berry), a trio of pregnant Duggar sisters (Susie Rosenthal, Carol Holiman, Audrey Smith), Baker Kurrus and Peter Miller as themselves stepping out to the lyric "let's put Baker back on the bus," and a terrific goof on Attorney General Leslie Rutledge (Treeca Cotton), dressed in camouflage and heavily armed, howling about the horrors of marijuana.
Musical interactions worked better than straight-up skits, but overall the production, directed by Jana Beard with the aid of musical director Lori Isner and producer Mary Spencer McGowan, left the full house wanting more.
Gridiron 2016 continues through Saturday at Arkansas Repertory Theatre, 601 Main St., Little Rock. . For tickets and more information call (501) 378-0405 or visit therep.org.
Metro on 08/03/2016