The Most Ridiculous Thing You Ever Hoid
by Jim Beckerman (music, lyrics, and book)
Here's a comedy that begins with a near-tragedy. "The Most Ridiculous Thing You Ever Hoid," the new Marx Bros. musical, starts with two long-time friends and collaborators. Andy Seiler (book, lyrics) and myself, Jim Beckerman (music, book, lyrics) spent 30 years writing songs for rock bands but dreamed, someday, of writing a musical. In particular, we loved 1930s shows and songs - the humor, the high spirits, the great melodies. Andy had just begun to write the show, based on a treasure trove of old public domain Marx Bros. radio scripts, when disaster struck. He came down with Ramsay Hunt Syndrome, a rare, very serious illness that almost killed him. The post-attack symptoms lingered. He was in terrible pain, and had to quit his job as a staff writer at USA TODAY. But I and another old friend, Fred Wemyss (book), stepped in to finish the Marx Bros. project. It was picked up first by Bergen County Players in New Jersey in 2009, and was then, to our delight, accepted into both The Fringe Festival and the New York Musical Theatre Festival. We went with NYMF - but the fact that the show has already had several takers is very exciting to the three of us. The moral: No matter how tough things get, it's never a bad time for a good laugh, a good tune, or a guy who goes beep-beep. At least, we think that's the moral.
