Capitol Steps' equal-opportunity mockery entertains at benefit

prev
next

LEGAL NEWS PHOTOS BY CYNTHIA PRICE

by Cynthia Price
Legal News

The Capitol Steps musical troupe accomplishes with every performance something Congress cannot seem to do: their satire is bipartisan.

An audience of approximately 400 found this out at the Justice Foundation’s annual dinner last Thursday at Meijer Gardens.

From John Boehner as the Phantom of the Opera crooning “Loonies of the Right” to numerous musical skits about Obama, Bill and Hillary, and Congressional Dems, the Capitol Steps spare no one on the national political scene.

For example, after the normal “really a man” jokes about Homeland Security head Janet Napolitano, the performer impersonating her said that the bad news was that people would have to undergo the invasive X-ray machines, the good news was it would count as an MRI under Obama Health Care Reform.

One very funny sequence involves “Lirty Dies” in which they give speeches where initial letters are switched between the parts of phrases. Sarah Palin becomes Para-Sailin’, the Tea Party becomes Pea Tarty, and the potential for double-entendre  and/or tomfoolery is endless.

The Capitol Steps’ web site, www.capsteps.com, explains that “Lirty Dies follows a great political tradition: We're not quite sure what we’re saying; you're not quite sure what you’re hearing.” To listen, visit the home page and click on Lirty Dies: Tough Rimes of 2010.

The delightful comedy was actually a substitute for something more serious scheduled for last October, which is when, every other year, the Justice Foundation Benefit Dinner usually takes place.

Actress Anna Deavere Smith cancelled 30 days before the event, which was the last possible moment allowed by her contractual agreement, upsetting the Grand Rapids Bar Association’s plans with not much time to recover. However, the GRBA’s great staff — Kim Coleman, Debbie Kurtz and Karen Flick, as Justice Foundation Chair Tom Behm acknowledged — swung into high gear and made cancellation calls and new arrangements with great speed, eventually resulting in the high-quality entertainment  people saw Jan. 13.

Though the Capitol Steps had appeared before at a GRBA event, it had been over 15 years.

The Capitol Steps’ co-founders were all Congressional staffers, and that has been the tradition with cast members they have added as well. The 26 current performers have worked in the offices of 11 U.S. senators and seven U.S. representatives of different political parties and persuasions.

All of the cast members contribute to the writing, but the bulk of it is attributable to Mark Eaton and Elaina Newport — the sole person of the group’s three co-founders to be still actively involved.

And since its founding in 1981, the troupe has been committed to equal opportunity as far as the targets of their humor. The show even included members of the Supreme Court of the U.S., in a reworking of the song “Maria” from West Side Story that featured Justices Ginsburg and Sotomayor lusting after fellow Justice Scolia.

In fact, the name “Capitol Steps” stemmed from the place where Congressman John Jenrette and his wife Rita chose to show their physical affection for each other in a widely-publicized 1981 scandal.
There was not a lot of focus on the Justice Foundation itself, but before the delicious dinner was served, Behm gave a brief speech thanking others for the smoothness of the evening and praising the foundation.

Sponsors included Behm’s own firm, Gruel Mills Nims and Pylman, in the platinum role; gold sponsor Miller Johnson; silver sponsors Law Weathers, Mika Meyers Beckett & Jones Smith Haughey Rice &Roegge, and Varnum; and bronze sponsors Adamy Valuation, Dickinson Wright, Garan Lucow Miller, GVSU Office of Equity  Inclusion, Meijer, MSU College of Law, Plante & Moran PLLC, Plunkett Cooney, Thomas M. Cooley Law School, and Warner Norcross  Judd LLP.

Behm introduced Valerie Ambrose to give the invocation, and she asked for a moment of silence in honor of the recent shootings in Arizona. Ambrose later said that she had a one-degree-of-separation connection to Judge John Roll, who died in the attack.

Behm then turned it over to well-known TV personality Maranda to emcee the evening.

After the well-received performance GRBA President Susan Wilson Keener gave a brief wrap-up.

––––––––––––––––––––
Subscribe to the Legal News!
http://www.legalnews.com/Home/Subscription
Full access to public notices, articles, columns, archives, statistics, calendar and more
Day Pass Only $4.95!
One-County $80/year
Three-County & Full Pass also available