Also this issue: Ja Rule -Elisa Ludwig New Year's Flockin' Eve -Helen i-lin Hwang

January 30-February 5, 2003

mixpicks

D.C. Cabaret

Take a walk, Mark Russell. The Capitol Steps have the floor, engaging audiences nationwide with their clever brand of melodious political satire. The Washington, D.C.-based troupe, formed in 1981, consists of 24 cast members (with rotating five-member regiments that perform throughout the country on an ongoing basis), many of whom have served time as Congressional staffers. They continue to maintain a ubiquitous presence, from their incessant live appearances (over 500 dates a year) and quarterly Politics Takes a Holiday National Public Radio shows, to their prolific recordings (22 albums so far, including their newest CD, When Bush Comes to Shove, all of which are available though the www.capsteps.com website). The group deftly marinates the headlines of the day into witty song parodies of popular favorites ("You're So Vague," "House of the Right-Wing Son," etc.) that somehow avoid the jejune aftertaste of "Weird Al" Yankovic-type hokeyness. Expect an acerbic platform for Dubya-ribbing when these comical delegates make a campaign stop in Jersey, a welcome buffering to the tension of a looming world war threat.

The Capitol Steps, Fri., Jan. 31, 8 p.m., $20-$25, Dennis Flyer Memorial Theater, College Drive, Camden County College, Blackwood, N.J., 856-338-9000, www.ccparks.com.

—Frank Halperin