Word: strausses
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Strauss is the founder and director of The Capitol Steps, a musical theater troop that satirizes the latest political headlines and makes its way from Washington to the 50 states to public radio and television—with a yearly stop in Sanders Theater. The show packed a full house in Sanders Theatre last Saturday, as Cambridge Democrats and a few hardy Republicans flocked to see Washington as it really is: vaudeville...
...It’s a cabaret show,” says Strauss, and it doesn’t leave anyone out: the perennial acts atop the Hill—Dubya, Dick, Donald and Condoleeza—are joined by old favorites Bill and Hillary, the hapless Democrats running for president, and Arnold. Onstage, the politicians—plus Rush Limbaugh—carry on their usual antics in songs and skits, like the Mary Poppins classic “Super-California-Recall-Freak-Show-Was-Atrocious,” “The Lieber...
...Strauss founded the Steps with two colleagues in 1981 (“when Bob Dole was only 71 years old”), while working for former Sen. Charles Percy, R-Ill. After eight years of being a Washington insider, including chief counsel for a Senate sub-committee on eliminating weapons of mass destruction, he couldn’t hold it in anymore. Politics was just too funny...
...Christmas party that year, and soon began a tour of the Hill. Politicians loved them, but because the group members were still working in official posts, the Steps kept their gigs private. “We asked all the reporters to say nothing about it,” says Strauss. “We were all political people.” Only after Percy lost his Senate seat in 1984 did the Steps cut loose from the Capitol, hit the nightclubs, and finally go on the record. But they never lost their Washington fan base: to this day, Strauss insists...
...Steps have four ensembles that tour the country simultaneously, with a total of 25 performers and five pianists. They have compiled 23 albums since turning professional, including their latest, Between Iraq and Hard Place. Strauss, Newport and Eaton are still the primary writers...