A drinking town with a sailing problem

Week 3

Annapolis, the locals like to say, is a drinking town with a sailing problem.  Annapolis has several identities.  As the state’s capital, it’s a government town, especially during the General Assembly’s 90-day session.  It is a college town, though it doesn’t really feel like one.  Neither the Naval Academy’s midshipmen nor the Johnnies lead typical college student lifestyles.  Plus the midshipmen are literally walled off from the rest of the city for much of the week while the student body at St. John’s is actually smaller than that of the average Maryland middle school.  Annapolis is certainly a sailing town, though Newport, San Diego, and other satlwater cities challenge its claim to being America’s Sailing Capital.  Annapolis is also a Navy town, a dog town, and a tourism town.  But whatever Annapolis is, this past Saturday my wife and I had a night on the town.

Rams Head On Stage is a concert venue attached to the Rams Head Tavern on Annapolis’s West Street.  It’s an intimate venue of about 300 seats at tables for 2, 4, or 6.  On September 19, the Capitol Steps were performing there.  My political junkie wife and I would be in the audience.

Founded in 1981 by congressional staffers, the Capitol Steps offer political satire, largely in the form of parodies of Broadway tunes and light rock classics.  While their home stage is at the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington, D.C.’s Federal Triangle, the comedy company sends out touring teams, like the one we saw on Saturday.  Their name is a tip of the hat to an incident involving former Congressman John Jenrette.  To the extent he’s remembered at all, Jenrette has two claims to infamy:  (1) he was convicted for taking a bribe during the FBI’s Abscam sting operation; and (2) his then-wife Rita Jenrette was featured in a 1981 Playboy issue in which she revealed (in addition to her body) that she and her husband had sex behind a pillar on the Capitol Steps during a break in an all-night session of the House of Representatives.

Five members of the comedy troop plus one hard-working pianist delivered the Rams Head performance.  While the State House dome is visible from the Rams Head’s front door, there were no jokes about Maryland politics thrown into the mix  – perhaps because there are no tales of legislators copulating on the State House steps.  But the lack of local humor proved to be only a slight disappointment as the cast delivered 95 straight minutes of high-energy comedy.

The first two jokes were based on current news – an announcement that, in case of an emergency, the audience should wait for Congress to reach agreement on how to evacuate followed by a warning that anyone whose cellphone rings will be given a clock and sent to high school in Texas.

The cast then took the stage with a song parodying the voluminous field of Republican presidential candidates – “76 Unknowns” to the tune of the Musica Man’s “76 Trombones.”  A Donald Trump impersonator was the least polished performance of the show, with the cast member pulling out notes as he sang “You’re All Losers” to the tune of the Beatles’ “I’m a Loser.”  The Trump jokes, which were obviously a recent addition, didn’t have the same polish as most of the show’s other comedy.  The Barack Obama impersonator had some of the best lines, including a reference to 5 million immigrants doing stuff other Americans won’t do – “like vote for Democrats.”  The biggest laughs of the night may have gone to the Vladimir Putin impersonator’s stage patter that preceded his song “Putin on a Blitz” to the tune of “Puttin’ on the Ritz.”  Another crowd favorite was the George W. Bush impersonator, observing that the Supreme Court’s recent gay marriage decision was a victory for the “BLT” community.

My favorite performances were, of all things, a pair of parodies sung to Andrew Lloyd Webber tunes.  One was an Obamacare website fiasco song to the tune of Jesus Christ Superstar’s “I Don’t Know How to Love Him”:  “I Don’t Know How to Log On.”  The other was Pope Francis singing an Evita-inspired, “Don’t Cry for Me I’m From Argentina,” during which he held a note for a miraculously long time.  The show concluded with a fast-paced review of news items from the Capitol Steps’ 34-year-history in “We Didn’t Start Satire” to the tune of Billy Joel’s “We Didn’t Start the Fire.”

West Street was crowded as the audience flowed from the venue onto the sidewalk.  At least on a warm September Saturday night, Annapolis was an entertainment town.  We’ll see whether it can maintain that status come February.  It certainly won’t feel like a sailing town then.

contact:  aacountyseat@gmail.com