Here Come the Mummies to Jergel’s; CMU Staging ‘A Bright Room Called Day’ (Thurs., 4/12/18)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88uG3zWLvww

1) A band that dresses in a slightly different way—in bandages—is Here Come the Mummies. The group’s background has been described by the band as follows: “It’s been a long and dusty road since 1922 when, at a dig in the desert south of Tunis, Professor Nigel Quentin Fontenelle Dumblucke IV (1895-1973) unearthed the ruins of an ancient discotheque to find a dozen undead Egyptian mummies inexplicably throwing down what he dubbed, ‘Terrifying Funk From Beyond the Grave.'” Individual Mummies have names like Mummy Cass, The Flu, KW TuT, Spazzy Mummy, B.B. Queen, and Eddie Mummy. The band is actually a group of very talented musicians from Nashville who formed in 2000 and are said to hide their identities to avoid problems with the record companies that they are under contract to. No word on whether they are sponsored by Johnson & Johnson. Their latest album is 2016’s A Blessing and a Curse. 8 p.m. Jergel’s Rhythm Grille, 285 Northgate Dr., Warrendale. (MV, CM)

2) Is it time for a play about the rise of Hitler and the Nazis? Carnegie Mellon’s School of Drama thinks so. Next up on the mainstage schedule is a revival of Tony Kushner’s A Bright Room Called Day. Written during the Reagan presidency in the U.S., Bright Room takes us back to Germany in 1932-33. The setting is a Berlin apartment where a group of artistic and intellectual folks gather to socialize and talk politics. These left-leaning people are at first bemused, then increasingly alarmed, by the hard-right shift of the government. In typical Kushner touches, spooky characters including the Devil himself visit the apartment as troubling news unfolds outside: The Nazis win the most seats in the Reichstag. Bankers and industrialists press to have Hitler named chancellor. Then very quickly books are banned and burned, the first concentration camp opens at Dachau—and step by step, the unthinkable becomes the new normal. A Bright Room Called Day wasn’t a great success after its 1987 premiere but the play is getting renewed interest lately. In the Philip Chosky Theater at Carnegie Mellon. Performances through April 28. 5000 Forbes Ave., Oakland. (MV)

3) Büer’s Kiss is a multimedia play by playwright Carl Antonowicz who is also a comics artist. Büer’s Kiss is adapted from a fantasy-comic story that he’s been writing and drawing. Audience members get a bound copy along with admission to the play. Tonight only. 8 p.m. at the New Hazlett Theater, 6 Allegheny Square East, North Side. (MV)

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