The Mask and Wig Club has been entertaining Penn with men in drag and raunchy jokes since 1888, and this year’s fall show “Oil Vey!” does not stray from this grand tradition.
Directed by Will Strasser, the performance takes place on a set that juxtaposes large Alaskan oil rigs with an ominous power plant that evokes Chernobyl. Comforting.
Given the current Wall Street chaos and presidential showdown, the Club has had no shortage of relevant calamities from which to draw their material. Nothing escapes unscathed; parody victims include everything from the Beijing Olympics to Mother Nature. And as per Mask and Wig tradition, the first act ends with a brilliant tap routine, complete with a dance off between Greenpeace and Sarah Palin’s oil diggers.
Even more rewarding for the audience is the second act, when the show focuses on Penn by filling the stage with stereotypes. You know, faces that should be instantly recognizable to anyone who’s ever contemplated sex under the button(.com). One particularly memorable lampoon is of Amy Gutmann, portrayed by an Asian male on a scooter.
Saxophone star and Mask and Wig Chairman Andrew Reich leads the band as they provide a soundtrack of excellent songs, the best of which is a jazzed-up rendition of the Ghostbusters theme. Never before have I wanted scene changes to last longer. Eargasmic.
“Oil Vey!” quickly finds its strengths and doesn’t deviate from its successful formula. The skits come quick and dirty, leaving the audience little time to catch their breath between laughs. The Club combines pop culture, politics and perverted humor to create short vignettes that pack a wallop. Even the simplest of sketches involving the violation of Reese’s Cups will have you laughing your ass off. Not that we expect anything less from the men of Mask and Wig.
