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That distinctive odor you’ve noticed in the
air lately might very well have been a batch of Mayor Savage’s city
records being consumed by the city’s infamous trash to energy plant
making way for a new city administration. Or could it be the Tulsa Press
Club firing up the old gridiron for another celebrity/newsmakers roast?
Yes, indeed, it’s time again for the annual Tulsa Press Club Gridiron
Show, to be held Thurs. and Fri., Feb. 21, 22 in the Great
Hall of the Bernsen Center, 7th St. and Boston Ave., across from the
First Presbyterian Church. John Walls, news anchor with KJRH, does the
interlocutor duties.
Gridiron, you say? Football is over, you say. Yes, but no, this is
definition number one: an iron grill heated to roasting temperature, upon
which the city’s sacred cows and sacrificial lambs are skewered and
rotisseried. Sometimes not so tastefully done.
Still in the fog?
Well then, you probably haven’t noticed this is the 70th anniversary of
a venerable tradition and a great concept that has gotten a bit long in
the tooth. Fact is, it had come to the point where the only people who had
any idea of what the Gridiron was about were the roasters, the roastees
and their friends in the media, the majority of whom are card-carrying
AARPers.
Is it any wonder? Until l986 the Gridiron was only open to male members.
“About the same time that Rotary admitted women, the Press Club started
letting women into the Gridiron,” says a thoroughly modern DJ Morrow
Ingram, chairman of the Tulsa Press Club Educational and Charitable Trust
and this year’s master of ceremonies. “Before that it was all men.
They would dress like women. It’s one last bastion of male dominance
that we’ve finally broke through.” Or perhaps the audience just
couldn’t take the leg hair shrouded in nylon a moment longer.
Enter Chuck Cissel.
Cissel, Executive Director of the Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame, took over
the reins as director of the Gridiron two years ago to help breathe new
life into what had become a tired, somewhat hackneyed show. This year he
has been serving as a consultant and advisor, assisting this year’s
director, Vicky Muratore.
Born and raised in Tulsa, Cissel’s vita includes top-flight experience
in New York and Los Angeles. He’s a real triple threat, show code talk
for someone who sings, dances, and acts. Cissel was in the original cast
of A Chorus Line. He worked with Pearl Bailey in Hello Dolly. “It was a
heady experience and one that I still treasure.”
Cissel brings that treasure of experience to his work at helping produce
the Gridiron event. He says that several of the politicians, who
involuntarily sat on the hot seat, have come to the Gridiron performance
and, as he put it: “laughed as hard as anyone else. There are several
political people who want to be involved. It’s always a strength of
character when people can laugh with us.
“It’s a fun night. A great night of entertainment. It’s very easy to
swallow.”
One of the skits includes the Press Club’s take on the plight of the
Jenks’ prairie dogs where citizens concerned for the creatures nearly
came to blows with the property owner and a TV cameraperson was almost run
over by the owner’s pickup. “The prairie dogs are part of the scene.
They have lines,” says Morrow Ingram. Music for this skit is
“Don’t Fence Me In” but you won’t recognize the lyrics. They’ve
been rewritten; Press Club style. |
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The club keeps files throughout the year of songs easily dismembered
and matches them to headline stories. No music is sacred or spared.
Everything from Broadway to country finds its way into the cauldron of
verse.
The farce also includes comments on the beautiful and heart-stopping rapid
renewal of the streets surrounding Southern Hills in advance of the US
Open, and Councilman Joe Williams’ altercation with the Tulsa Police
Department over...er...well, it was never quite clear. Politicians, sports
figures, big business, the Keatings and their pesky money issues, and
Oklahoma’s first-place standing in executions; it’s all fair game.
The production is expected to run about 90 minutes, but expect the
unexpected from the not-ready-for-prime-time-players. “Our performers do
venture off the stage and into the audience,” Morrow Ingram says.
Morrow Ingram describes the Gridiron as a musical parody that pokes fun at
events of the past year. “It’s a night of laughter. We’re not trying
to make any political statements. We’re simply trying to provide people
with a good time. We do a pretty good job of that.”
This year’s title is “Lame Ducks and Councilmen or Osama Where Art
Thou?”
Part of the relevance problem for the gridiron event has been its outdated
music and antiquated lyrics. Another is the current generation’s
disinterest in local news and the acuity with which citizens address and
re-dress (or un-dress, should we say) politicians and celebrities. But if
you follow the news, this event is for you.
Friday night’s buffet
dinner includes the bestowing of the coveted Roasting Ear Award which
honors someone who has made the news repeatedly. In previous years Mayor
Susan Savage, Brad Carson, and Steve Largent have won. “They actually
get a roasting ear that we paint gold and hang on a chain.”
For the last two years the Tulsa Press Club and the Press Club Educational
and Charitable Trust have entered into a joint project with the Simon
Estes Foundation to award a $10,000 scholarship to a minority student with
financial needs. “There’s a pretty high bar on the scholastic.”
Monies also go to Oklahoma colleges: OU, OSU, TU, TCC, and NSU.
Tickets for the Thursday night show are $10 and may be purchased from
Novel Idea Bookstores or through the Tulsa Press Club located in the lobby
of the Atlas Life Building. Those interested in the Friday banquet show
may call the Tulsa Press Club, 588-7737, to receive an invitation. Banquet
night is $100 a table. Proceeds from the yearly satire go to a scholarship
fund for journalism majors.
The Gridiron is just one more thing we can blame on Oklahoma City since it
was the their Press Club who first brought the show to Tulsa in
l932. A couple decades later–-what took them so long?--the Tulsa Press
Club began staging its own show.
With the assistance of Cissel, the Gridiron hopes to vastly improve upon a
concept that has great potential. Having worked with directors such as the
late Michael Bennett, who not only choreographed but directed and
conceived ‘A Chorus Line,’ Cissel knows a thing or two about staging.
Cissel has also recorded albums for Arista Records and done commercials
for the likes of Coca Cola, Seven-Up, and Doublemint Gum.
He believes in simple, clean lines and clear, precise direction. “When
you direct for a Broadway show it’s really tight. It has to be a very
disciplined part because it’s to be repeated every night. I use some of
the same techniques here. It’s not a Broadway show, but you want
Broadway sensibilities.”
“This is a community event so you’re dealing with community players.
Most of these people are not necessarily professional singers, dancers,
and actors. It takes on more of a fun, easy-going performances with smooth
edges.”
So don’t forget to bring your own BBQ sauce. |
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