Law school sells out ‘Muzak Man’ shows
Professor creates clever spoof of original 1958 musical
classic
By Jeffrey Hilger
Each year, selected students and faculty from UCLA’s Law School
take a break from the normal grind of legal education to produce
and perform a musical comedy.
Over 50 individuals plan and rehearse for over three months to
put on a production for only two performances.
The show is no ordinary musical. Each year, law professor
Kenneth Graham chooses a famous musical and proceeds to turn it
upside down and then some. By maintaining the music while rewriting
the lyrics, Graham creates a totally original product.
This year, Graham recreated Meredith Wilson’s 1957 Broadway
smash, "The Music Man," originally the story of a town in 1912 Iowa
that embraces a traveling music professor who hopes to start a band
in the extremely uptight town.
Graham’s 1995 version "The Muzak Man," took place this weekend
in Rolfe Hall, and had something to do with a virtual reality
experience of a famous law case from the 1870s. What was left
unclear by the show’s esoteric lyrics was made up by its sheer
entertainment value.
The crowd overwhelmingly enjoyed the creative lyrics and
hilarious performances of the ensemble cast, laughing throughout
the two-hour performance.
Graham creatively took lines from the original play about "the
Iowa territory," and turned them into legal statements about
"jurisdiction in the territory."
For those who didn’t quite follow the legal or computer jokes,
however, the show was full of enough sexual innuendoes and
risqué situations to entertain all audience members.
Graham’s lyrical spin on Meredith Wilson’s work became more
obvious with every song. Graham does with musical theater tunes
what Weird Al Yankovic has done with pop songs, but in an even more
sharp and complex manner. Original lines like "It’s a capital T,
and that rhymes with P, and that stands for Pool" turns into "It’s
a capital F, rhymes with Gorbachev, it’s a commie tool."
Much of the show had an attitude reminiscent of Monty
Python-esque irreverence. "The Sadder-but-Wiser Girl for Me,"
became "The Sado-Budweiser Girl." The line, "Seventy-six trombones
led the big parade, with 110 cornets close behind," turned into
"Seventy-six law drone corporate entities bill 110-plus hours every
week." The show proved full of endless creative twists.
Two different casts performed the lead roles in the evening’s
two presentations. The comedic charm of students Mark Soriano and
Carol Elias were paralleled by the vocal talents of Jenna Cummings
and Matt Mulford in the 7 p.m. performance.
"The Muzak Man" provided great entertainment for all who
attended its two sold-out performances. All proceeds from the
ticket sales went to support UCLA’s Public Interest Law Foundation,
a group that promotes involvement in public interest law to UCLA
students.