"Here We Come" Review: Play Monkees, Play!

If fans are going to celebrate the Monkee Legacy into the future, "Here We Come" is the template for the ultimate Monkee party.  And it should be done on a regular basis: gatherings of Monkee-minded souls, watching talented actors reenact our favorite episodes & all of us singing along.  This is what we have been waiting for.

Walking down the stairs into the theater, you have the sense that you are walking into The Cavern, just as it looked to the first audiences of the Beatles in 1963.  The first thing I noticed on the set was the distinctive drum kit on a platform. In an early scene, they turn it around and . . . Behold!!  It is a cutout of the Monkeemobile!!

As with the TV show itself, the plot isn't the point.  In fact, the play incorporates several plotlines extremely well.  The Boys need to make rent, so they decide to drive to NYC for a Band Contest, but run out of gas and are trapped when their car breaks down (first in the Wild West, then in Hillbilly land), and when they make it to their destination, the contest is for "mixed groups only".  A few of the best lines are included, as well as some of the worst, with plenty new ones to make you feel like you are watching a LIVING episode.

Did I mention that an actress pulled me up on stage to dance during "Let's Dance On".  (Can I confess that a deep fantasy was to get pulled into a dance number on that show??) And for everyone else who hates "Audience Participation", the music was loud enough so you could sing along without drawing attention, and in the finale, EVERYONE got to dance onstage.  Lots more took pictures of themselves in the Monkeemobile, as the author did, with another infamous Monkee-friend, Mary Ciuffitelli (aka "Mary Mary").

A lot of the credit should go to Britton Payne, who is a loyal & dedicated fan through and through.  He is billed the "conceiver" of the project, the show that he wanted to do as a kid with all his 9 year old friends.  As a grownup, he impresses both the child & adult in me as an audience member.  He also has an amazing costumer and video geek working for him who pulled off the impressive feat of making the details perfect.

MUSIC!  Did I mention the music?  As any true tribute, the show included 17 songs including TV music cues.  It's all the big ones, with shenanigans added in.  eg "Davy" sings "I Wanna Be Free" when he's tied up by the Banditos.  There was talk of trying to get the Blue Meanies involved, but karaoke made it all that more accessible for everyone.  The front row was asked to hold cue cards for one of the songs . . . you guessed it, "Goin Down".  (I wonder if Micky ever used cue cards?)

Honestly, I believe that shows like this are the wave of the future for Monkee Fan gatherings.  Karaoke, putting on bits of costumes, playing out scenes (or watching professionals do it) are all crucial elements.  As with most Monkee shows, the audience had a nice blend of generations, with this skewing towards a younger demographic.  One actor I talked to said that he had watched "One or two episodes" as a kid, another person said, "I really had no idea these were all Monkee songs!"

"Here We Come" is over, for now.  But Monkee magic lives on.

Monkee Theater: "Here We Come . . ." to an Off Off Broadway theater near you!

HERE THEY COME, to the C.O.W. theater on the Lower East Side of NYC.  (Monkees are coming to a COW?)  Yes, it's true.  A group of actor/fans will be portraying/parodying The Boys in what seems to be a sitcom plot show-within-a-show theme.  And yes, I believe there will be some gender-bending portrayals as well, look carefully!  Deets below:

http://www.theatermania.com/new-york-city-theater/news/09-2013/hey-hey-monkees-parody-show-here-we-come-is-arrivi_66076.html

Friday and Saturday night performances.  Actually seems like a fabulous topic for a Fringe-type show.  And a great opportunity for audience participation.

No actual Monkees are scheduled to make an appearance.

But nobody said they are NOT coming.

Full reportage after we attend the Saturday Night performance.

PS Graham Nash has been hanging around NYC this week, promoting his autobiography.  Booksigning at our favorite Soho art gallery, owned by Henry Diltz, Morrison Hotel.

The Decade Between: July 6, 1957- July 6, 1967

Not that I post a lot of photos, there are plenty of sites for that, but here's a timecapsuled piece of Rock History.  The span of 10 years, from July 6, 1957 to July 6, 1967, the dead-center of Monkeemania.

July 6, 1957- The Quarrymen (founded 1956) play a gig at St Peter's Church in Liverpool.  They will become one of the best known Skiffle bands in history, along with Lonnie Donagan.  Ivan Vaughan, a bass player, introduces his classmate (Liverpool Institute) to his band.  The 15 year old kid is Paul McCartney.  The lead singer of the Quarrymen is John Lennon.

Fewer than 10 years later, a little film of theirs, Hard Day's Night (dir Richard Lester, who also did the films: Help!, Superman 2&3, The 3 & 4 Muskateers, Forum and Robin & Marian) would be released in the USA in 1965.

Side Note on Skiffle- Coined in the Chicago in the 1920's jazz scene for a style of home made music, Jug Band Music (yes, the Lovin Spoonful!!) and a "skiffle" was known as a "Rent Party".

And through the miracle of technology, we can date the picture below of the Monkees at the Warwick Hotel, at a press conference in NYC.  High as kites, riding on top of the world, the first season fully broadcast, 2 Emmys received a few weeks ago.  This year they will have outsold the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, PUT TOGETHER.  Here they are at the top, thinking they can do no wrong, about halfway through their run (Auditions were announced September 8, 1965, shooting started in early 1966).  There will be a long downward spiral from here (Peter would buy out his contract 12/8/68), but this is smack-dab in the middle.

July 6 also happens to offer a connection as the birthday of both Bill Haley (1925-1981) and Pat Paulson (1927-1997).  

Bill Haley And His Comets had several famous recordings including "Rock Around the Clock", which served in the film "American Graffiti" and as the theme song for the first season of "Happy Days".  Glenn Ford would have a personal relationship with the song, him & the song both having co-starred in "Blackboard Jungle".  It's also the last song he hears on the car radio in "Superman" (note the callback to Richard Lester within this post!). The song was chosen from his son Peter's record collection.  The kid he had with dancer Eleanor Powell.

Pat Paulson (1927-1997), the officious official in "Monkees Watch Their Feet", who was also seen on the Smothers Brothers.  An excellent comedian with a deadpan delivery also ran for president in several elections and often beat out the real candidates (at least in the primaries!)