'Law Follies'

'Law Follies'

By David R. Corder

Associate Editor

True to tradition, the cast of the 19th annual Law Follies presented an entertaining evening full of tastefully irreverent parodies laced with bawdy lyrics and suggestive innuendo.

Under the professional direction of Kelly Clements Hoffman, the cast of mostly lawyers and judges went a little light this year on the misdeeds of their brethren during the Feb. 24 performance in the Louise Lykes Ferguson Hall at the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center.

Instead, the cast reveled in the missteps and misstatements of public figures such as middle school teacher Debra LaFave and her alleged illicit sexual relations with a student, conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh and his alleged drug addiction, Hillsborough County Commissioner Ronda Storms and her virulent tirades and even Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio and her Pollyanna demeanor.

This evening of levity even poked a little fun at Bill Schifino Jr., president of the Hillsborough County Bar Association. The cast rewrote the words to "Hello Dolly" as "Hello Billy," and then they held up several poster-sized color placards emblazoned with Schifino's image as he walked on stage to welcome the audience.

It was Tampa solo practitioner Joe Nader, however, who appeared to earn the loudest applause during the skit, "Paper's Little Helper." Set to the Rolling Stones' tune, "Mother's Little Helper," Nader paced the stage as he sang about the pharmaceutical industry's advancements in the area of male erectile dysfunction.

"What a drag it is getting old," Nader sang. The parody told of how papa "took more than he should and maximized his wood" and "take it from Bob Dole you can stiffen up your pole."

Cast member Kristen Chittenden, an aspiring lawyer and sister to pianist/attorney Keri Knecht Mitchell, delivered a dazzling performance, first, as the lead vocalist in a rendition of the Quiet Riot heavy-metal musical group's "Come on Feel the Noise."

Then Chittenden displayed her prowess as a dancer in the skit, "Hot for Teacher," a parody of LaFave's legal problems. Male cast members - most notably Circuit Judge Rex Barbas - danced in a sexually suggestively manner as they clustered around Chittenden's character.

The evening of parody highlighted the misdeeds of those few Tampa firefighters disciplined for using city facilities and equipment for an X-rated photo shoot. Female cast members suggestively sang how they'll have firefighters "sliding back on that pole in no time," with references to "back drafts, revving up the engine" and inviting them to "come see us again."

To the chagrin of Tampa-Hillsborough Expressway Authority, cast member and Circuit Judge Bill Levens performed a medley about the construction problems at the agency's Crosstown Expressway. To the tune of Simon and Garfunkel's "Bridge Over Troubled Water," Levens sang, "It's a road built on troubled soil, and it will fall down." Then he segued into a revision of AC/DC's "Highway to Hell."

Attorneys/co-producers Kristen Norse and Ken Turkel cited director Hoffman's leadership as the reason for the success of this year's show.

"Since Kelly came on board, it's calmed us professionally," Turkel says. "There's no tension."

Norse also cited the efforts of Assistant Tampa City Attorney Donna Wysong, who during a single weekend drafted many of the skits used in this year's presentation.

Cast members began creative work in December, with rehearsals beginning the following month, Norse says. Up until a week before the program, members rehearsed twice a week for two to three hours. The week before they rehearsed for five to six hours each over three days.

"That's not including creative time, administrative work and script writing," she says.

Several Tampa law firms donated $1,000 or more to support the program sponsored by the Hillsborough Bar. The Yerrid Law Firm, Dennis Hernandez & Associates PA and Williams Schifino Mangione & Steady PA each contributed $2,500.