The Green Room 42, which recently celebrated its own sixth anniversary, played host to the 30th anniversary Show of “the dragapella, beauty shop quartet”—The Kinsey Sicks. As its title Deep Inside Tonight implies, it was a parody of a cable news show through a skewered, madcap, political, hilarious lens. It was an evening filled with original material and parody songs that covered a cornucopia of targets, with perhaps a bit too much emphasis on the scatological, and a bit too little on the political, but there were many more highs than lows, as has been the case since the group began three decades ago.
The Kinsey Sicks
The lineup has, understandably, changed a bit over the years, underlined by the presence at a ringside table of a couple of the founding members. The current team, Nathan Marken (Winnie), Jeff Manabat (Trixie), SpencerBrown (Trampolina), and J. B. McLendon (Angel), are each talented clowns that blend together beautifully into a whole that is even batter than its parts.
In the best of their previous shows, the focus was on current, contemporary events, people, and culture so there was a “shock of the new” and a spontaneity that was not as evident in a retrospective, which by its nature, is forced to limit its choices to numbers that have not aged too badly. That said, what was there was undeniably funny, abrasive, outrageous and inventive. The writer who contributed most of the material is Benjamin Schatz who has many more hits than misses, barring that unfortunate juvenile fascination with “potty humor.” Jeff Manabat supplied a smaller, but nonetheless vital, bit of comedic gold.
The subject matter ranged from Right Wing madness (“I Wanna Be a Republican”), dating tips (“Cruise People Uglier Than You”), sex (“Somebody’s Crotch Over Me”) which opened a raunchy, boundary-pushing medley in which the other titles will remain tastefully unreported here), and the group’s own history (a terrific closing medley of “Can You Believe We’ve Lasted This Long?” and “We Did Survive”). In one extended section, each singer sang a “signature song” of one of the others—a conceit that probably appealed more to longtime fans than first timers, but the material was strong enough to make each moment work without context.
Underlying and supporting each song and the show in total were their remarkable harmonies. There was first-rate à cappella evident everywhere, but most effectively on a sweet, touching, absolutely lovely cover of “Puff the Magic Dragon” (Peter Yarrow, Leonard Lipton) reimagined as “Poof the Magic Drag Queen” that was, for me, the highpoint of the show. I would love to see the group explore a few more serious, low-key moments like this in future shows; they are good enough singers to carry it off.
The Kinsey Sicks never fail to delight, and Deep Inside Tonight continued that laudable track record, with outlandish wigs, over-the-top costumes, side-splitting songs, and crowd-pleasing clowning. Now that the look back has been done, I look forward to their return to “current events.”
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Presented at The Green Room 42, 570 Tenth Ave., August 20, 2024.
Gerry Geddes has conceived and directed a number of musical revues—including the Bistro- and MAC Award-winning "Monday in the Dark with George" and "Put On Your Saturday Suit-Words & Music by Jimmy Webb"—and directed many cabaret artists, including André De Shields, Helen Baldassare, Darius de Haas, and drag artist Julia Van Cartier. He directs "The David Drumgold Variety Show," currently in residence at Manhattan Movement & Arts Center, and has produced a number of recordings, including two Bistro-winning CDs. He’s taught vocal performance at The New School, NYU, and London’s Goldsmith’s College and continues to conduct private workshops and master classes. As a writer and critic, he has covered New York’s performing arts scene for over 40 years in both local and national publications; his lyrics have been sung by several cabaret and recording artists. Gerry is an artist in residence at Pangea, and a regular contributor to the podcast “Troubadours & Raconteurs.” He just completed a memoir of his life in NYC called “Didn’t I Ever Tell You This?”
