Cops rock! Local troupe books a wacky musical
MICHAEL SMITH World Scene Writer, 01/03/2004
Prostitutes Roberta, (left) played by Kaycee Johnson, and Madame Secretia, played by Angela Adams in action during a scene from "No Takebacks: Final Vengeance IV Lethal Seduction's Heat" at the Nightingale Theater. ROBERT S. CROSS/ Tulsa World
For those fans who like their police drama served up with a song in its heart and a side of cheese -- are you listening, "Cop Rock" fans? -- the Nightingale Theater offers up an evening of entertainment for you.
"No Takebacks: Final Vengeance IV -- Lethal Seduction's Heat" was first conceptualized from a water-cooler discussion between friends, said Joseph Gomez of FLOPSWEAT, the group presenting this live theater piece that New Year's night.
"One of the main threads of this story happened when Dale Sams, myself and Matt Leland one day were working together and we entertained ourselves by trying to recall every cop cliche that we could," Gomez said. "It was so fun for us that we went out to a bar after work and made a list of all of them, and that turned into a screenplay that we only filmed one scene for. Then it just sat on a shelf for a year or so."
Well, haste makes waste, but Rome wasn't built in a day, just like the script and songs for this play, largely written and directed by Gomez with help from FLOPSWEAT (formerly F.L.A.M. improv troupe) buddies Leland, Mike Cramton and Greg Mize.
"No Takebacks" is an absurdist musical about buffoonish officers who speak almost exclusively in lawman lingo. Then there's the musical's four robots. And the prostitutes. And the robot prostitutes.
"I feel like every time I say the word 'robots' that I lose people," Gomez said, chuckling. "I don't really ever watch 'Star Trek' or 'Futurama,' so I don't really know if I'm making robot jokes that have been made before. I think we've come up with some interesting characters, and the fact that they're robots is really inconsequential. They're really just characters -- although they'll have funny costumes."
There's six songs; there's a cast of 12 including John Cruncleton, Sams and Sarah McKemie, among others; and most everything else about the show is flexible, says Gomez, who admits that "It's kind of hard to talk about some of this while we're still writing it."
So he's just hoping that his audience can enjoy some wacky songs and adult humor from these boys in blue, who will be armed with more cliches than you can shake a stick at.
What: "No Takebacks: Final Vengeance IV -- Lethal Seduction's Heat"
When: 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, also 8 p.m. Jan. 8-10
Where: Nightingale Theater, 1416 E. Fourth St.
Tickets: $6-$8, may be reserved by calling 583-8487 [As of February 2007, 633-8666]
NOTE: For mature audiences only (adult language, sexual situations)