In another effort to combat youth violence, Mayor Thomas Menino, with the help of about 50 local personalities, sang and danced in the 11th Annual Banned In Boston A Madcap Musical Revue on Friday at the Avalon, raising close to $600,000 for Urban Improv’s violence prevention program, which raises funds to educate thousands of Boston’s public school children about violence.
Following a cocktail reception that included hors d’oeuvres donated by some of Boston’s most acclaimed eateries, such as Excelsior, Figs, Mantra and Sonsie, the satirical performance included acts from city celebrities such as U.S. Rep. Marty Meehan, Sen. Jarrett Barrios, President of Boch Automotive Ernie Boch Jr. and Aerosmith bassist Tom Hamilton, all donning wigs, faux facial hair and eccentric outfits that mocked the likes of Osama Bin Laden, Whitey Bulger, Teresa Heinz Kerry and Paris Hilton.
After Lisa Alvord, the event’s producer, explained that the show’s proceeds would help fund Urban Improv programming — an improvisational group that teaches at-risk grade school students about respect in order to prevent youth violence — Broadway star Nancy Anderson sang about some of the reasons why comedy is necessary in today’s world of constant bad news.
“No talk of spying or Cheney’s lying. No talk of hurricanes, it’s comedy tonight,” she sang. “No blame, Plame, ills, pills, me, you, states blue, BU, bird flu … Ok, I’m lying, we plan on trying to skewer everything in sight.”
As host, television anchor Natalie Jacobson introduced the notable cast and announced that Gov. Mitt Romney was supposed to attend the event but did not because, “he found out it would be in Massachusetts.” She later continued that, although scheduled to perform, gubernatorial candidates Attorney General Tom Reilly “threw his back out” and Christy Mihos “went AWOL,” so candidate Deval Patrick had to sing about why he is “The Model of a Massachusetts Governor” alone.
“I never ran for office so campaigning is a thrill for me, and don’t forget I learned a lot from Clintons, Bill and Hillary,” Patrick sang. “My politics tend liberal, for civil rights I advocate. I’ll never move from Mass. because I own so damned much real estate.”
Subsequent skits included jokes about the sleep drug Ambien, a “Harvard Idol” search for Harvard’s President Larry Summers’s replacement, an Oprah segment featuring Hillary Clinton and Condoleeza Rice and a spoof on Vice President Dick Cheney’s inability to aim a rifle.
“I walked into Dick Cheney’s line of fire. Got shot down, down, down, worse than Harriet Miers,” sang a Harry Wittington impersonator to the tune of Johnny Cash’s Ring of Fire. “Oh that Dick, Dick, Dick, he should cease fire. He should retire.”
Performers also mocked Boston’s style, implying that Boston’s fashion is ugly and that its people look weathered.
“Is there anything remotely glamorous about Boston?” asked City Councilor Sam Yoon, playing a newscaster, to which a fashion reporter impersonator curtly replied, “no.”
The show ended as Menino, donning a fake mustache and a fake French accent to imitate detective Jacques Clouseau, and Teresa Heinz Kerry found Osama Bin Laden and gangster Whitey Bulger hiding out at a Christmas Tree Shop in Braintree — yet could not apprehend Bin Laden because they could not identify him.
“You look familiar to me,” a Kerry impersonator asked. “Do you have a place on Nantucket?”
“I prefer the mountains,” Bin Laden replied.
Following the cast’s finalé, audience members said the event was a creative way to raise money for a serious cause.
“I thought it was really funny,” said Megan Lloyd, a worker at the Harvard School of Public Health. “I just liked the human aspect of it — watching them and seeing that they’re normal and human as well.”
Charles Cooney, a chemical engineering professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology — who added that he worked closely with President Robert Brown during his days at MIT — said he only missed one Banned in Boston performance in its 11-year run.
“Absolutely it’s corny. It had to be, and it’s off the edge sometimes,” Cooney said. “But it put on a big smile, especially for something as great a cause as Urban Improv. It brings Boston together, and it’s great they can make us laugh at the expense of themselves.”