March, 20 2009
By: stacey_in_ma
Picture: stacey_in_ma
Edited by: Marcy

Toto and I went to see Randy at Joe's Pub last night. It was so much fun! I'd go see Our Hit Parade again regardless of whether Randy was in it or not. We met up before and after with inner_justin before and after the show and had a great time!

Basically the show is a burlesque/cabaret/variety show. It was a little bit naughty, a little bit UnPC (okay, in some cases a LOT unPC, lol) and LOTS of fun. I'm not speaking specifically of Randy's segment but the show in general. So it might not be everybody kind of humor but my friends and I (and pretty much everybody in the room) found it hilarious. The show is set up in a Top 10 format and each show they do (this was the 20th one, apparently) has a theme. Last night's theme was house fucking.

For those of you not familiar with the show from the 50's and 60's called 'Your Hit Parade', on which the format of 'Our Hit Parade' is based, mlytjc2 over on IMDb posted this about the show.

The priest-altar boy staging of "My Life Would Suck Without You" was hilarious and it it beautifully satirizes the format of the original 50s-60s TV show "Your Hit Parade"

The show presented the seven top-rated songs of the week in elaborate TV production numbers requiring constant set and costume changes. However, because the top songs sometimes stayed on the charts for many weeks, it was necessary to continually find ways of devising a new and different production number of the same song week after week, and it was often quite a stretch.

This production of "OUR Hit Parade" takes the staging of each song to its hilarious extreme.

Randy and James performed the #7 entry in the Hit Parade, the song, "My Life Would Suck Without You". Randy was wearing an altar boy surplice (the smock part), short shorts (running type shorts), tube socks with blue and gold stripes and ratty tennis shoes, lol. James was dressed as a priest, though honestly I didn't get the greatest look at him because my view was mostly obstructed. I was able to see Randy's legs a lot, though. :p The reception they got was great. Their song was brilliant and Randy has such a beautiful voice and he plays a mean xylophone (or glockenspiel), lol. Who knew?! I loved all the sidelong looks Randy kept giving James and one thing that the video didn't catch was when the song ended and as they were leaving the stage, when Randy turned around there was a "blood" stain (actually you can see it for just a fraction of a second on toto's video right after Randy bows) on the back of his surplice. :P It wasn't exactly a surprise but there was a burst of laughter when he turned around, lol.

Randy and James came back out at the end of the show for the finale, when everybody sang 'Home Sweet Home'. Randy mostly hid in the back, or at least that's how it looked from my vantage point. I couldn't see him well at all. :p

There were definitely some fans there but it wasn't all just Randy fans. Jack Wetherall was there and some other friends of Randy's. And of course, lots of other people.

Here's toto_too514's video of Randy and James. Her video includes the song and the finale. She was trying out her new camera so the video isn't the greatest, lol.

After the show we waited outside in the freezing cold, just chatting and waiting to see if Randy would come out. We had to wait for a while but we had a great time just visiting. :-) We did see Jack leave on his bicycle so he obviously lives somewhere fairly close to the theatre, lol. Randy finally came out and I said his name and he looked over and saw it was us and immediately came over. He looked great and was very happy to see us (he gave me a big hug when he came over to us) and we had a really nice chat with him for about 10 minutes or so. He mentioned that he wasn't sure if he'd be doing anymore Our Hit Parade shows but he definitely seemed enthusiastic about it so I think if he got the chance to do it again he'd jump at it. Because of the play, he won't be able to do the one in April, I'm pretty sure, but keep an eye out for him in May and June. :-)

Trish asked Randy if he'd mind being the subject while she tried out her new camera and he was so nice! So, here's a picture of Randy from last night. Enjoy!



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Edited byMarcy