Tom Lehrer Revue

Lisa Ann Green will surprise some of her neighbors, who may know her only as a wife and mother in Syosset, when she sings up a storm in a new revue devoted to the songs of Tom Lehrer. The razor-witted musical satirist whose songs have delighted three generations of Americans is the subject of "Pigeons, Popes & Pollution: The Songs of Tom Lehrer," a new revue to be presented in Garden City on Saturday, Oct. 27, and Sunday, Oct. 28.

Conceived and directed by Phil Gellis, "Pigeons, Popes & Pollution" features 27 classic Lehrer songs, including such classics as "Poisoning Pigeons in the Park," "I Wanna go back to Dixie," "The Vatican Rag," "The Masochism Tango," "I Hold Your Hand in Mine" and "Pollution," performed by a cast of four that, besides Green, also includes Barry Mastellone, Andrew Schwartz and Gellis himself. Music director Stephen O'Leary accompanies at the piano.

"I started listening to my parents" Tom Lehrer albums as a small child," Green recalls, "and singing along with them is one of my fondest and most bizarre memories of growing up. My parents were able to avoid many awkward parent/adolescent conversations by relying on Tom's tutelage."

Lehrer was a doctoral student in mathematics at Harvard University when he began to publicly perform his parodic songs, among them the hilariously genteel fight song, "Fight Fiercely, Harvard." A self-produced recording turned him into something of a cult idol among the young, and he spent the 1950s playing nightclubs and concert halls around the United States and England. In 1960 he resumed his studies at Harvard and largely retired as an entertainer, except for his gigs as the resident songwriter for the satiric television program "That Was the Week That Was" (1964) and the children's series "The Electric Company" (1971). Since 1972 he has been a professor at the University of California at Santa Cruz.

His three record albums, however, have continued to sell, as each new generation discovers songs that, though seemingly topical for their era, remain irreverent, iconoclastic and just plain fun.

"When it comes to giving my own children some perspective on the wonders of nature and adult behavior," says Green, who has also sung with the Gilbert & Sullivan Light Opera Company of Long Island and other groups, "I've followed my parents' example. My boys know all the words to such Classics as 'The Masochism Tango' and 'Poisoning Pigeons in the Park.'"

"I think a big reason why Lehrer remains popular is that, unlike other musical satirists like Allan Sherman and 'Weird Al' Yankovic, Lehrer's songs are based on original melodies," director Gellis says, "so listeners can focus on the lyrics and situations of the song, as opposed to comparing it to the original work. I used to love listening to Weird Al's stuff, but once I reached an age where I wasn't familiar with the songs themselves, not from any clever mimicry of the base material."

The show is being produced by The New Punctuation Army, a Manhattan-based original-theater company whose New York Productions include "ID," "Two for the Show," "Baseball, Sex and Other Facts of Life" and "A Gilbert & Sullivan Christmas Carol." "Pigeons, Popes & Pollution" represents the first show the company has produced on Long Island since 1986.

"It was too appealing a project to turn down," says NPA artistic director Gayden Wren, who is producing the show. "Phil is one of Long Island Theater's great triple threats as an actor, singer and director, and I've always loved Lehrer's songs. When I heard that Phil was doing a Lehrer show, and got a look at this amazingly talented cast, I knew we had to get involved."

Gellis does have a final warning to prospective audience members, however. The New York Times famously reviewed a Lehrer performance by observing, "Mr. Lehrer's muse is not fettered by such inhibiting factors as taste." No naughty words appear in "Pigeons, Popes & Pollution," but nonetheless the show has a little something to offend practically anybody.

"Tom himself put it better than anyone else could: 'If, after hearing these songs, just one human being is inspired to say something nasty to a friend, or perhaps to strike a loved one, then it will all have been worthwhile,'" Gellis says. "Hopefully people will check their political correctness at the door and come ready to laugh.

"Pigeons, Popes & Pollution: The Songs of Tom Lehrer" will be presented on Saturday, Oct. 27, at 8 p.m. and Sunday, Oct. 28, at 3 p.m., with both performances taking place at the Ethical Humanist Society of Nassau County, 38 Old Country Road in Garden City. Admission is $15; for tickets, directions or other information, call (516) 216-1173 or (631) 567-8264.