The Inner Circle, the 82-year-old organization limited by charter and tradition to 100 members of the NYC press, presented its annual musical revue lampooning national and city politics, in general, and Mayor Bloomberg, in particular, at the New York Hilton. This year’s three-hour production of skits and songs was dubbed Queer Eye for the Rich Guy, a title credited to CBS’s John Slattery.
Act 1, “Trading Faces,” targeted headlines from the past year in City politics. The tune (He’s got a …) “Ticket to Write” (sung to the tune of The Beatles’ “Ticket to Ride”) spoofed the Mayor’s crackdown on traffic and public decency offenses to raise city revenue. Other issues spoofed: “A Tiger Sleeps Tonight”…in the housing projects; “You Stop That Dirty Dealing” (to the tune of “You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling”), remembering the judges accused of accepting bribes in Brooklyn; “Beer, Beer, Beer” (revisiting the prohibition against beer in NYC firehouses); “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes” (alluding to the Mayor’s city-wide ban on smoking); and “May-ya”… “now Carol’s stuck in traffic …” (to the melody of “Hey-ya”) about the revoking of lights, sirens, and City cars from many of the Mayor’s deputies. (At one point the mayor yelled out, “Carol, just try to leave your house earlier!”)
Act 2, “Aboard the SS Halliburton,” branched out into national politics, with “Convention at the Garden” (sung to the tune of “A Weekend in the Country”), “White Rabbit” (about Rush Limbaugh’s pain pill addiction), and Rudy and Hillary’s “Let’s Get Away From It All,” envisioning plans to “top their tickets by August” and “make the race come alive!” Martha Stewart’s lament, sung to the Disney tune “Be Our Guest,”offered memories like: “Gave my staff a plum pudding, dined with Cuba Gooding, I’m not whole without The Hamptons in July!”
Mayor Bloomberg’s well-rehearsed response was a 20-minute song and dance, during which he dressed as a gangster in pinstripes and flipped waffles to spoof his own waffling on the issue of gay marriage. When asked onstage by one costumed female Chicago cast member if he was in favor of same-sex nuptials, he replied, “I am … NO, I’m not … I’ll see.”
The Mayor also directed jibes toward the recently deposed second-in-command at the Board of Educa-tion, Diana Lam, who procured a senior-level job for her husband in the department. Bloomberg proposed a new City hotline, 211, to field nepotism charges, and at one point quipped that even 311, the City’s new general information hotline, was being outsourced!
We’d be remiss if we didn’t describe the caricature-illustrated program which includes all lyrics plus a cleverly written, newsworthy menu (including Orange Alert Juice; Pro Vallone Cheese; Talibananas; Third Grade Beef (a nod toward the dreaded citywide test that public school third graders must pass for promotion); Fruit-Flavored J-Lo (an allusion to the Mayor’s public infatuation with the diva); Rosie Whines (can’t forget that endless Rosie O’Donnell/Gruner+Jahr trial); and Gif Miller Lite (a good-natured jab at the NYC Council Speaker/future mayoral candidate wannabe).
So much talent found in such high places!
