It was a week full of disappointments as “I’ll Have Another” was scratched from his entry in his bid for the third leg of the triple crown, my Keurig died a terrible death, and the Celtics… (need I say more??). Like so many of the disillusioned wandering the streets of Newport, I too was looking for an escape from reality during the weekend. What better place to enter the world of the bizarre than the Firehouse Theatre and home to the Bit Players. Little did I know that plan to escape reality would be knocked on its ear. (Geez, that sounds like Film Noir!)
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| Frank Fusaro, Neal Leaheey, and Dylan Eberle in "Good Cop / Bad Cop" |
The Friday night, capacity crowd was rowdy and offering some great suggestions as the Bit Players rolled through their sets. In “Good Cop/Bad Cop”, Frank Fusaro and Dylan Eberle playing the role of the law enforcers, interrogated Neal Leaheey, prodding this perpetrator to confess to the crime’s details submitted by the audience. The crowd erupted with laughter and applause as Neal finally admitted to killing Ivan Drago (The villain of Rocky IV), with a Pregancy Test, in the Ninja Turtle Lair.
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| Michael "Biggie" Morgan of MTV's, The Pauly D Project is "Serenaded" by The Bit Players |
In a huge surprise of the night, (and I do mean HUGE), the Bit Players called to the stage Michael “Biggie” Morgan of the “Pauly D Project”… Yeah, talk about escaping reality here! Biggie was a great sport as the Bit Players “Serenaded” him with lots of good natured ribbing about his Reality TV show and his recent engagement. (Click on the link to watch the video and see what happened… -> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJ3JL34obGE&feature=plcp)
The night was jam-packed with so many zany moments like in “Radio Show” where we listened to Dylan narrate Episode 14, part 2 of “Boris and His Pogo stick”. In this episode our hero, Boris traversed a great canyon accompanied by his love interest Victoria and challenged by his rival, Duke Derrick. Other characters made cameo appearances like the priest who attempted Last Rites, and the Indian Shaman who saved Boris.
The night was jam-packed with so many zany moments like in “Radio Show” where we listened to Dylan narrate Episode 14, part 2 of “Boris and His Pogo stick”. In this episode our hero, Boris traversed a great canyon accompanied by his love interest Victoria and challenged by his rival, Duke Derrick. Other characters made cameo appearances like the priest who attempted Last Rites, and the Indian Shaman who saved Boris.
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| Dylan and Frank commentate In "Sportcasters" as Vlad and Matt perform their sport. |
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| The Bit Players in "Mini-Musical" |
In “Sports Casters” we watched as Frank and Dylan provided commentary on the “Ironing Bowl 2012” where Michael O’Malley, from Northern Ireland (played by Matt Lindman), and Lucy Leslie (Played by Vlad Tenenbaum) compete to the death in this ironing Olympic sport.
There was also “Mini-Musical” about “Crazy Steve and the Hat Factory” and the creation of Meat Hats? (ewwww!!) I’m not sure if the audience was squirming in their seats from repulsion or absurdity of the idea of Meat Hats, but it’s not a scene they will soon forget!
And finally finishing off Friday night with a “Blues Song”, the audience delighted in the singing of the “Curt Schilling Blues”.
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| Matt and John perform in "Sportcasters" |
On Saturday, the theatre was again at capacity, and the energy was running high. Due to its popularity, The Bit Players reprised the game “Sportscasters”. With Chet and Chip our commentators (played by Frank and Dylan) we witnessed the “Cat Ball Bowl” where we saw Sophia (played by Matt) a spinster woman with 47 cats, living in her parents basement, and Raven (played by John Mulligan) a rookie to the Cat Ball Bowl, go head-to-head in this sport of cat feeding. Not only did we witness carnage on the stage, the audience was given an up-close, 3-D version, as Matt and John came out into the crowd and performed their antics. The crowd loved John’s energy and were heard commenting about John’s likeness to the creepy brother from Wedding Crashers! (Click the link to view the video -> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GAwXTY66Zf0&feature=plcp )
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| Brittany Hunt, Matt Lindman, Frank Fusaro are the Bachellors in the "Dating Game" with Stephanie Conrad and Host John Mulligan |
John kept it going in his hosting of “The Dating Game” as Stephanie Conrad, our dater, was looking for love with one of the three illegible bachelors, played by Frank (who was reliving Fight Club), Matt (The Super Hero with extra-large earlobes) and Brittany Hunt(Octo-mom). John in his role as host, could not be contained, as his self-deprecating character not only kept the quirky bachelors at bay, John helped Stephanie find a date with Robert Paulson of Fight Club.
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| Bachellorette, Elizabeth is "Serenaded" by The Bit Players |
Bachelorette, Elizabeth got a call to the stage for a “Serenade” where the Bit Players had a little fun with this “slightly intoxicated” participant. Along with Lizzy, the audience was the recipient of a call-back of a previously suggested item, the “hand-beater”, the weapon du jour in this evening’s performance of “Good Cop / Bad Cop”, and a second reference to “Crack-juana” that John exploited in “Jeopardy”. Good sport, Lizzy played along with the Bit Players' abuse during her Serenade, but did she remember it in the morning? Hmmmmmm???
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| Dylan and Frank with Girl Scouts, Emily & Rachel in "Tap The Audience" |
The third time is always a charm (or was it??) as both the crack-juana reference and the hand-beater were brought back during “Tap The Audience” with our Girl Scouts, Emily and Rachel providing the additional dialog (or in this case laughter). Frank was on his own “high” in this scene with Dylan, as the two attempted to grow body parts, but ended up having a really bad case of the munchies. However, the scene ended up on moral high ground with a caution to all parents for their children not to do crack-juana.
The sold out Saturday 8:00pm show prompted the theatre to offer a late night 10pm show.
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| Matt, John, Dylan, and Vlad in "Story, Story, Die!" |
At the top of the late night show, in “Story, Story, Die!”, Bit Player bodies littered the stage as host, Vlad Tenenbaum killed off the players who bored him or hesitated in the story of “Ben’s Handbasket”
Lucky audience member, Jenna was the recipient of an “Epic Poem” about being a maternity nurse, which was performed by Vlad, Matt, and Dylan.
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| Vlad, Matt, and Dylan in "Epic Poem" |
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| Vlad and John perform "Location, Career, Death" |
Lucky audience member, Jenna was the recipient of an “Epic Poem” about being a maternity nurse, which was performed by Vlad, Matt, and Dylan.
The late night crowd loved (loved, loved!) John and Vlad in “Location, Career, Death” (also known as Broken Telephone) as Vlad mimed the audience suggestions of a Gay Bar as the location, the career of a Retired Wrestler, and a stinky shoe as the object in which John was to kill Vlad.
Another lucky couple (Nick and Bri, serving in the Army and Navy respectively) received a gift from the Bits by being the subjects for a “Doo Run Song”, performed by John, Dylan, and Stephanie.
Bringing Saturday night to a close, The Bit Players finished with a “Hoe Down”. The audience suggestion of boating was a fitting end to a weekend in Newport and back to reality.
Special Note and Correction: The Bit Players will be performing at the Providence Improv Fest (PIF) 2012 on Wednesday, June 13th at 9:00pm at 95 Empire Street, Providence, RI (formerly the Perishable Theatre) for more information go to the website: http://providenceimprovfest.com/showgroup.php?groupid=3
The Bit Players perform improv comedy every Friday and Saturday night at 8:00pm at the Firehouse Theatre, 4 Equality Park Place (off Broadway), Newport, RI 02840. Please call the box office for reservations
401-849-FIRE (3473)
And as always, it is BYOB!
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