Live band to accompany quartet for benefit concert at Albany theater

By Heather Crabtree
The Entertainer

ALBANY — If someone had told Vicki Hannah Lein five years ago that she would be writing musical comedy, she would have told them that they were nuts.

What started out as a group of women participating in the Albany Civic Theater production of "Brain Death or Expiring Minds Want to Know" three years ago, has progressed to an outrageously funny group called Free Range Chix. The Chix sing about topics that mainstream music doesn't touch, including menopause and aging.

The Free Range Chix will return March 4-5 to ACT for a benefit to raise funds for the ACT building facade remodeling fund.

The Chix members are Nancy Beaudry, Barbara Case, Stephanie Long and Lein. All four members write music that's included in their performances. For this production, a new song Beaudry wrote called "Give It to the Engineer" will be included. It is the first song she has composed for the production.

For the first time, a live band will accompany the Chix, and ACT veterans Don Taco and Pat Kight will assist the Chix and "add intellectualism,"according information from an ACT release.

The group's original musical comedy is best described as a live radio show from the 1920s. The Chix intertwine songs with commercials and the audience acting as the live audience found in old radio shows.

Lein describes the content as something else.

"There's junk food humor, and it makes you feel worse about living," she said. "And then there's Chinese food humor, where you laugh but it doesn't last very long. But, we do oatmeal humor that sticks to your ribs. It's good for you."

Although the majority of the music will make the audience laugh, the Chix do have some songs that may make the audience cry, and there are even songs for men.

Over the past three years, the Chix have performed in many different settings, including fund-raisers and parties. They've also recorded an album.

If you go

What: Free Range Chix original musical comedy

Where: Albany Civic Theater, 111 First Ave. S.W.

When: 8 p.m. Friday, March 4, and Saturday, March 5.

Cost: $11 for adults, $8 for juniors and seniors. Tickets available at the box office 45 minutes before curtain, Sid Stevens' Jewelers or through the Chix at 757-2890.