Written by:
Demetria Daniels

P: 212-332-9991

718-885-6576 A chatty, informative column of New York events featuring places, people and personalities and celebrities. demetriadaniels@gmail.com

 
THE INNER CIRCLE, made up of media professionals held their annual musical satire; this years title was WHAT'S HE SMOKING? With Larry Sutton as the writing chairman, the scene starts off at Smokey Bets Cafe, as the Mayor of Bloomberg Cracks Down. Is eveyone inhaling and exhaling? You bet they are! And they are also singing with the musicians led by Cathy Bearer, and dancing led by Kathy Seng Gurland. The brilliant cast spoofed all the political leaders you can imagine. The beautiful Mary Alice Williams sang and danced and so did her three children, whom I sat next to.S he played HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON with zest and spunk.The choreography looked liked the Rockettes as they kicked and twirled. And the jokes kept coming with GABE PRESSMAN playing the role of Senator Charles Schumer and TONY GUIDA playing Governor Pataki. And my favorite was when ERNIE ANASTOS came on stage with an apron saying "My Big Fat Greek Anchor." He did some Greek dancing and clapped his hands and "Opah" away.

I kept wondering how much entertainment could fit on one stage. But the scenes kept coming. Leona Helmsley was all dolled up surrounded by a group of men wearing - yes, you guessed - pink slips. I didn't know anyone still wore slips.

The second half of the performance was called "Bush Comes to Shore." JOHN SLATTERY played Bush and Saddam was played by JOHN MULLIGAN. And lots of other people showed up - Chelsea Clinton, Michael Jackson, Bill Clinton, the Bush girls and even Martha Stewart. It was roaring fun all the way.

And that was only the dress rehearsal. The next night was the $500 a seat all-for-charity event, with the rebuttal coming from MAYOR MIKE BLOOMBERG.

It was his turn to do the jokes; riding in on a bike and exiting on a burro called Manhattan.

All for chairty and a good nights fun; they should send this to Broadway next. The office for the Inner Circle is brilliantly run by MARK LIEBERMAN who was in charge of "organization" And no one can top this show.

posted by Demetria at 12:41 PM