On Stage

Laugh Out Local

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Sometimes the best way to show the world you love something is to make fun of it in front of a live audience. For 20 years, the Ocean State Follies made a loving mockery out of Rhode Island’s scandalous headlines, quirky characters and idiosyncrasies. Now, after a five-year hiatus, the Follies have returned and the pickings are far from slim. Led by veteran Rhody comic Charlie Hall, the musical revue roasts several of our current news bites, including legalizing marijuana (swapping Frozen’s “Let It Go” for “Let It Grow”), and the state’s UHIP debacle (to the tune of Billy Joel’s “The Longest Time”), and features a solo from Providence’s favorite empty skyscraper.

While Charlie and his cast are at it, they give a better-late-than-never ribbing to some of the news they missed while they were away, like last year’s “Cooler and Warmer” tourism campaign and Barrington’s Yoga Pants Parade. Mr. Rhody makes his return to give us all a crash course in speaking Rhode Isle-ish (“Jeet?”) and, since all roads lead to Washington these days, the gang takes a crack at our sociopath-in-chief’s ill-advised Twitter habit.

Catch the new Ocean State Follies at B. Pinelli’s in East Providence on Saturdays. In a year in which each day’s headlines have been more ridiculous than the last, the Follies couldn’t have come back at a better time. 736 N Broadway, East Providence. 

ocean state follies, charlie hall, comedy, musical revue, b. pinelli's, east providence, the bay magazine, providence monthly, tony pacitti, political satire, superman building, yoga pants parade, gina raimondo

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