by Jaz Bowens
The Lid (Design by Ali Wadsworth)
The Lid, a rock musical by Pat Finnerty, presented by BRAT Productions will be at Underground Arts this weekend helping to kick off Philly’s 17 day Fringe Festival. The Lid is about the reawakening of life. Everyone will be able to see themselves in, or shall I say, under The Lid.
Lee, the downtrodden protagonist stumbles upon a lid in a meadow during one of his usual predictable boring days. What is under that lid can either change the course of his life or lead him to continue his mediocre life. Along with the simple yet mysterious plot, The Lid features 14 original British invasion songs written and performed by Philadelphia singer/songwriter Pat Finnerty. BRAT Producing Artistic Director Jess Conda and Ali Wadsworth (Satellite Hearts, Unlikely Cowboy) are featured as Finnerty’s back up singers. The two are also working with Finnerty off stage to co-produce and direct the show.
Pat Finnerty (photo by Thom Lessner)
Finnerty gave us examples of what The Lid is really about. After preliminary greetings and small talk he stopped to ask a question. “Excuse me, what’s your name again?” After I answered he continued, “See, everybody is bad with names so that conversation needs to stop (people apologizing and “confessing” they’re bad with names). We’re all bad with names. That would be in The Lid.”
He wanted to emphasize how the ordinary and mundane, which is often overlooked, is highlighted in his performance. “It’s in the Larry David world, the Ricky Gervais world; it’s in that world…that’s the world we live in.” To further reiterate what The Lid is about he gave examples of how we waste time on things that shouldn’t matter as much as they do and/or creates unnecessary space between people and their surroundings. In a nutshell it’s all about life; life which can be uninspired, predictable, and dull at times.
Conda, Wadsworth, Finnerty (photo by Thom Lessner)
Thanks to the people at the award-winning BRAT Productions and the friends who believed in his larger than life storytelling, the stories that were once used to entertain those closest to Finnerty will now be at Underground Arts on Sept. 4th, 5th, and 6th. For times, tickets, and further information checkout http://fringearts.com/venue/underground-arts/ and BRAT Productions.
