Posted by Heidi on March 16, 2009
That's Weird Grandma
First, thanks to all the Monkey fans who came out to the Old Town School of Folk Music yesterday to catch us as part of “Milly’s (almost) All Kids Review”! I’m sure someone (Rachel?) will write a full blog post later, complete with photos and a description, but from my perspective there’s nothing like watching BOM in a sold-out show full of kids. Especially when one kid reacts to a moment in “Dance of Yousail” by crying out “but it was only a barrel!!”
If that last sentence didn’t make any sense to you, you definitely haven’t seen “That’s Weird, Grandma” in a long time and should come to the Neo-Futurarium.
How about…tonight? Tonight would be a good night to see a show.
You can, as always, buy tickets online. The full running order is after the jump. Not to spoil it or anything, but…NUTS!!
Remember: Only three more Monday nights before we switch to SUNDAY AFTERNOONS!! WOW!! Yep, April 12 - May 31st we’ll have shows Sunday at 2pm. We’ll get back to Mondays after Celebration of Authors in June.
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Posted by Heidi on March 9, 2009
That's Weird Grandma
Another awesome week of “That’s Weird, Grandma” is on order for tonight. You will, of course, like it. This week we introduce “I am a dog”, a hilarious argument about how dogs should get to wear clothes too. Performer Dixie Uffelman may have described it as a moving parable about class struggle…or it’s a funny story where dogs wag their behinds. You’ll have to judge for yourself.
By the way, you would already have heard that comparison if you followed BOM on Twitter.
Full running order after the jump!
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Posted by Heidi on March 2, 2009
That's Weird Grandma
This week is the first of what we at the office call “Round 5” of TWG. Basically from your point of view that means:
a) There’s a new cast!
Erick, Alex, Meredith, Tom, Dixie, Curtis and Rachel join returning cast members Brandon, Philip, Tai, Mari, Rani and Donnell.
This is a delightfully large cast after last round’s very talented small cast. Extra kudos to Philip who was the only musician for the last six weeks, and since it was his first time in the show he had a lot to learn and did it well. Erick and Curtis will join him on the keys this round.
b) There’s a new director!
Our lovely Artistic Associate Molly Brennan takes the directing reigns from Artistic Director Luke Hatton for the next five weeks. Luke will be back for the *matinee run* starting in April.
Of course, there are also new stories. “Kung Fu Princesses” makes it’s TWG debut and “Grandma” makes it’s first appearance since 2004. Don’t worry long-time fans, “Going to the Party” and “A Bad Day” are still in the run.
You will like it!
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Posted by Heidi on February 23, 2009
That's Weird Grandma
Only one new story this week. We bid a sad farewell to “A Cold Day” after several months (optimistically I like to think this bodes well for the weather) and welcome the delightful “How the Pitbull got its name”.
Never fear ardent fans in the front row, A Bad Day and Going to the Party are still in. See below for more on the awesomeness that is A Bad Day.
This is also the first week of a new promotion with Leona’s. I can’t get the logo to upload correctly (sometimes the internet is complicated), but if you bring in your program on the same day you see the show, you’ll get a free bruschetta. Delightful!
As always, full running order after the jump!
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Posted by Tai on February 22, 2009
That's Weird Grandma
Sometimes, in “That’s Weird, Grandma,” there’s a story.
Like all of the stories in the show, it is awesome and fun, and enjoyed by the performers and audiences alike.
But there’s something about it. Something that keeps it in the show week after week. Sometimes for months. Sometimes for years.
If you’ve been to the show before, you know about our voting system: at the end of each performance, the audience gets to vote for 2 stories they loved, and 2 stories they loved slightly less than the others. These ballots get fed into the Grandma-Tron 3000™, and they influence whether certain stories get taken out of the show rotation, or live to see another week. There are many factors that go into selecting which stories leave and which stay, but audience vote is weighted pretty heavily. So when a certain story gets an overwhelming amount of votes week after week, the director has little choice but to leave it in.
If you’re a longtime fan of the show, you may remember a little story called Kung-Fu Guys. Going further back, you may remember a little ditty entitled The Dog Was Dead. Each of these stories enjoyed an extended stay in TWG of two years or more. (The Dog Was Dead is possibly our most popular story ever—it was in the show so long that even after I moved away to Oregon for 2 and a half years and came back, it was still in the show. It was also performed at the TWG 5-Year Anniversary Show, at Theater on the Lake in 2005 AND 2006, and in our 2007 show at the Wilmette Theater. It’s also on our CD—perhaps you would like a copy?)
So, okay, where am I going with this? People, we may have another one on our hands.
A Bad Day has been in the show since August, and it’s showing no signs of leaving any time soon.
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