February 27, 2009

Ripped from today’s headlines,
student show is rip-roaring fun

The Second Year Show used the economic crisis as inspiration for a humorous look at those characters and customs that make life at the medical school such a memorable experience.

Second-years sang and danced before a capacity crowd in Harkness Auditorium on February 20 and 21.

Carrying on a 60-year tradition, members of the Class of 2011 mocked their teachers and mentors with irreverence and affection during February’s Second Year Show, this year titled “The Great ST Depression.”

The show’s 16 sketches centered on a plot inspired by current events: the School of Medicine has lost its endowment, and the dean is laying off faculty and eliminating financial aid. Faculty and students must get part-time jobs—at the Cedar Street food carts, for instance—or, as Dean Robert J. Alpern suggests in one sketch, by robbing S’Wings.

To those who’ve attended the show in recent years, the cast of characters was familiar. Alpern, played by Derek Kennedy, Associate Dean of Student Affairs Nancy R. Angoff, played by Larissa Chiulli, and Margaret J. Bia, director of the clinical skills training program, played by Lauren Hackney, all received considerable skewering. Standout moments included the song “Docta Bia,” based on ABBA’s “Mamma Mia”and Jennifer Lopez’s “Jenny from the Block”; and a video sketch featuring Shanta E. Kapadia, Allied Health Program course director, dishing up Indian food at a cart on Cedar Street. Another highlight was the song “My Goodies/Rizzilicious,” featuring Matthew Singleton as Lawrence J. Rizzolo, associate professor of anatomy and experimental surgery and ophthalmology, based on Ciara and Petey Pablo’s “My Goodies” and Fergie’s “Fergilicious.”

The show, directed by Henry Park, included a 14-member orchestra; a video parody in which David L. Katz, associate professor (adj) of epidemiology and public health, played an over-adrenalized juice fanatic; and a video screening of the Class of 2011’s class prank—a parody of a Saturday Night Live sketch about bodily function in which faculty made faces of delight or disgust.

“Our faculty had a great sense of humor and recognized that we only make fun of them out of love and respect,” said Patricia Peter, one of the show’s two executive producers.

Planning for the show began last summer, when Peter and co-executive producer Janet Chiang started recruiting participants and writing the script and songs. About 90 of the class’s 100 members participated. “We’re very proud of how collaborative it was,” said Chiang.

—Charles Gershman

Photo by John Curtis

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