Ladies and gentlemen, the winner is … the audience who attended to the “Phony Awards” during Broadway’s Next H!t Musical on Thursday night at the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford.
Well, the actual winner of the Phony was the song “Housemaid in the Zoo” from the hit show “Bratwurst of Pain,” beating out some strong contenders in “Lapras” from “Sit Down Shirley,” and “Kevin Is The Best Man in the World” from the musical “Murder in the Second,” and “Nasty Woman” from “Why Dragon?”
Are you all caught up?
The cleverly hilarious improvisational show featured host Greg Triggs, performers Robert Z. Grant, Deb Rabbai, Matt Giroveanu and Daniel Tepper. And some wacky and creative ideas for songs and shows from the audience.
Triggs started the show by complementing the campus, and Bradford itself. Tongue in cheek, he said, “Kane begged us to perform there. We said no. Olean got on their knees. We said no, we are holding out for the crown jewel of rural Pennsylvania — Bradford.”
The cast is from New York City, and he commented about the locals in Bradford as well.
“The worst thing I saw here was some rebellious kid using a disposable lighter,” he joked — and laughed when some audience members seemed horrified.
He took a few jabs at the presidential race, too. “I heard Donald Trump visited here and wanted to put up a border wall between here and Foster Brook to keep all those drug lords out.”
Triggs explained the basic premise of the show — four suggestions from the audience would be turned into songs nominated for a Phony Award, and the audience would pick a winner. The second half of the show would be a musical based on the winning song.
The first nominee was “Lapras.”
Grant explained the story behind the musical. Shirley is a recluse and “sort of a hoarder — hoardish.” A young man moves in next door and tries to bring her back into the world.
Lapras — which is actually a character from Pokemon — became “the word we say when we need to go outside” in the song version.
The second nominee, “Kevin is the Best Man in the World,” Giroveanu explained, it about “two men vying for the same position.” Addressing the college students in the audience, he said, “I want you to think about your best friend in the world and know someday you are going to go out into the world and stab you in the back.”
The fourth nominee, “Nasty Woman,” Tepper explained, was the “story of an unlikely hero and how the person has to save her village from destruction by a dragon.”
The winner, the third nominee, was “Housemaid in the Zoo,” which Rabbai said was a “big time dream in a small town girl.”
Add in a “German” village, a tall man in lederhosen, a raccoon hat with a lively personality, invisible animals — a zebra, walrus and chickens — and hilarity ensued.
The show really is something that defies an easy description. In fact, the best description just may be this— you really had to be there.
With suggestions from the audience serving as the only script, no two shows the cast performs are alike. One thing, though, will keep audiences coming back — to see what this talented cast comes up with next.
The show was part of Pitt-Bradford’s Prism Series, the next show of which is the Boston Brass Holiday Concert at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 30 at the Bromeley Family Theater.
