I used to think that the official beverage of live theater was the dry martini. We stand corrected. It appears to be lemonade.
I recently ordered pink lemonade at the concessions booth of the Westport Country Playhouse and got a little juicebox of the stuff with WCP co-savior Paul Newman’s face emblazoned upon it. Newman’s own indeed.
Lemonade also figures heavily in the work of my vaudeville idols The Marx Brothers. In Duck Soup alone, Harpo & Chico terrorize a hapless lemonade vendor (Edgar Kennedy), while later Chico (at his trial for treason) answers an exasperated attorney’s announcement of “that’s the kind of testimony we can eliminate” with “That’s fine. I’ll have a nice cold glass o’ lemonade.”
Tonight (Sunday, August 12) at 7:30 p.m. in the Owenego Inn & Beach Club (40 Linden Ave., Branford), there’s another theatrical connection to the beloved summertime elixir.
The Lemonade Gang presents “Freshly Squeezed,” a showtunes revue of unusual variety. Songs from Book of Mormon, Smash, Aida, Jersey Boys, Priscilla Queen of the Desert, Spring Awakening and Rent are promised amid some more standard standards.
The show has an air of spontaneity—the Lemonade Gang, led by Greg Nobile and Ryan Bloomquist and including a live band, has been at work since dawn today
The $10 suggested admission cost benefits the Myelin Project, a foundation dedicated to finding a cure for diseases of the nervous system such as Adrenoleukodystrophy.
So, beyond its seasonally apt title, such a show is also a way to prepare yourself for the reliably showtune-friendly Muscular Dystrophy TV telethon on Labor Day Weekend.
Info at (203) 812-8682