Sandy & Richard Riccardi
Political Snarcasm
The Cabaret at Germano’s, Baltimore, MD, June 9, 2018
Reviewed by Michael Miyazaki for Cabaret Scenes
The cabaret duo of Sandy and Richard Riccardi are clearly two leaders of the Trump Resistance—Cabaret Division. In Political Snarcasm, they combine original songs and parody lyrics set to established songs to eviscerate the current occupant of the White House. An excerpted set list gives one a sense of the evening: “It’s All White with Me,” “Kiss My Rump, Donald Trump,” “Boy from Mar-a-Lago,” “Chocolate Cake and 18 Holes,” “Stormy Daniels,” “Tiki Torch Nazis,” “The Lonely Dotard,” and much more. The politics of the show were leavened with material commenting on modern topics such as online dating, CPAP machines, and dietary restrictions.
The Riccardis are highly talented and superbly competent cabaret performers. Sandy, who handled most of the vocals, has a supple voice and the flawless diction to make all of the parody lyrics clearly understood.
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Moreover, she brings a sense of fizzy fun to the proceedings and does a masterful job of engaging the entire room. Richard provided accompaniment that both supported Sandy’s vocals and provided important punctuation to the humor in the material.
Their original songs were wittily effective.
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The parody lyrics were very well-set to the original melodies, including some triple rhymes in “Witch Hunt” (“Witchcraft”), that lived up to Carolyn Leigh’s original (music: Cy Coleman).
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My personal favorite lyric of the evening was from “My Funny Vladimir”: “You are my Rasputin/I’d kiss your ass, Putin/’Cause you’re my favorite demagogue.”
There are several issues that the pair faces with this sort of evening and material. The first is that the events portrayed are outrageous enough on their own, that the parodists are hard-pressed to add any original point of view about the material. Moreover, there has been such a steady stream of political incidents that, within a month, any jaw-dropping outrage can seem quaint. Finally, one wonders if dealing with this material humorously and lightheartedly, in the end, inures an audience to what is being parodied and normalizes the current situation.
