My third evening at SketchFest was a musical roller-coaster ride, starting with a rather tame swing around insanity but getting decidedly more lively as it pulled into vaginas.
PH Productions‘s musical sketch comedy, 100% Crazy Fun: A Mental Health Musical, turns out to be only 80 percent crazy and 20 percent fun. Its two suicidal main characters begin the show on the brink and quickly find themselves involuntarily committed to a mental hospital. Surrounded by violent lunatics who just want to cut a bitch, they sing ho-hum songs like “You’re Nice” and “I’ll Die If I Want To.” I did enjoy troupe members’ quirky performances as the staff doctor and nurse, who announce during group therapy that their goals for the day are to get high and meet guys on Gchat. The show closes with a stab at social commentary: one lost soul gets released because his insurance doesn’t cover mental health.
When I entered the theater to see the Cupid Players (the Reader’s 2008 pick for Best Sketch Group), I was given a numbered song list. Seated at the piano, Cupid stalwart and SketchFest founder Brian Posen explained that the audience would pick the order of the musical sketches. What followed was a hilarious, spontaneous performance that tackled everything from cockblocks to strip solitaire. I loved “Fat Girl’s Anthem,” with the line, “I’ll fly my chubby flag and wear my Spanx with pride.” Another highlight was the surprisingly empowering “Vagina.” Spoofing touchy-feely candle-lighting ceremonies, the lyrics urge the audience to “publicize your privates” whether you have a hairy bush or a horse cock. The Cupid Players return Saturday 1/15, 8 PM.