There are scores of cheesy puns, including Sasha Nidiot's advice as the Undergraduates head into battle with the ladies of the 69th: "Don't fire until you see the whites of their thighs." And there is, of course, some bawdy locker-room humor, including the comment that "you give a man an inch, and he'll want to give you eight."
Even the worst jokes, though, are carried off brilliantly by the cast. Several members are especially deserving of praise. Hasty Pudding Vice President Aaron Zelman '95, who plays Ms. Western, makes a convincing cow. He sings a stirring and hysterical medley of songs, ranging from "It had to be moo," through "Like a bovine, milked for the very first time," to "USDA" (the latter sung to the tune of the Village People's "YMCA").
J. Steven Schardt '95 plays Dusty Yevsky with passion, particularly when he promises Ms. Western that "I won't let them sell you by the pound." Daren Firestone '96 is truly insane as Estelle Crazy, a lunatic member of the 69th Special Division who goes around quoting old movies and Academy Award presentations. And first-year Danton Char turns in an impressive performance as the deformed Mr. Beaver.
Without question, through, the show's big winner was Bart St. Clair '93, who played Private Fifi Fifofum. St. Clair was hilarious, despite the fact that he was a last-minute replacement for a laryngitis-stricken David Travis '95 and only received the script the day before the first performance.
Of course, lest I get carried away with praise, it's worth noting that the Pudding show isn't for everyone. I am reminded of the words of one of my predecessors, former Crimson Editorial Chair Michael R. Grunwald '93.
"You don't go to the annual Hasty Pudding Theatricals production to see gut-wrenching drama or incisive social commentary," Grunwald wrote on this page three years ago. "You don't go to see professional acting, professional singing, professional dancing. You don't go to see a plot. You go to the Pudding show to see just that--a show. A spectacle. Big, hairy guys wearing skimpy dresses, disguising their husky voices, wiggling their butts, behaving like goofballs, inverting the social order."
He was right. And if that's what you're looking for, then this year's Hasty Pudding show delivers. Weiner may be wrong--it may not be Shakespeare. But it is fun. I give it four tsars.
Stephen E. Frank '95 was The Crimson's Editorial Chair in 1994.