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Politics can be funny Capitol Steps troupe coming Jan. 27
As part of WUWF’s ongoing 25th anniversary celebration, we’re bringing back the Capitol Steps the only group in America funnier than Congress. The new material just never ends.
Get a Steps Ahead for the Holidays! Because tickets to this January 27th (8 p.m.) event would make a wonderful gift for those hard-to-buyfor friends and relations, we’ve arranged for them to go on sale December 1 through TicketMaster, 434-7444. Tickets range from $20 $30. You can buy them online, through a link at wuwf.org, or a 10 percent discount is available to WUWF members who show their public broadcasting member card at the Saenger Theater box office at time of purchase (limit 10 tickets). The Capitol Steps are a troupe of current and former Congressional staffers who monitor events and personalities on Capitol Hill, in the Oval Office, and in other centers of power and prestige around the world and then take a humorous look at serious issues while providing a nationwide laugh for millions. Conservative or liberal, red or blue, left or right the Capitol Steps take no prisoners and they don’t play favorites. The Steps’ new lyrics to old songs are always fresh and topical. And if you think political correctness has gone too far, step back, sit back, and prepare for an uproarious evening of political and social satire with the notorious Capitol Steps. They’ll “step” on anything they can put to music.
The Capitol Steps began in 1981 when three staffers for S e n a t o r C h a r l e s P e r c y p l a n n e d entertainment for a h o l i d a y gathering. As they tell it, the first idea was to stage a n a t i v i t y play, but in the whole of Congress “they couldn’t find 3 wise men or a virgin!” Instead they took inspiration from daily headlines, creating parodies of popular songs and that was all she wrote. Well, actually that was just the beginning.
Figuring that if entertainers could become politicians, then politicians could also become entertainers, co-founders Elaina Newport, Bill Strauss and Jim Aidala recruited performers who had worked on Capitol Hill. Some were Democrats, some were Republicans and some worked for politicians who “firmly straddled the fence.”
Now, in addition to multiple troupes traveling the coun try, weekly performances in the D.C. area and multiple CDs to their credit, four times a year the Steps produce Politics Takes a Holiday specials for public radio listeners. Their Year in Review will air on WUWF 88.1 FM, Friday, December 30, 6 7 p.m.
More information available at wuwf.org.
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