3 Works 4 Work

The paper I work at, the Contra Costa Times, has quite the rapport with its readers. In my short time here we have, on a few occasions, invited readers to submit creative pieces of their own, based on a given theme, and they have delivered some brilliant, funny stuff.
...Last month, our readers were challenged to come up with their own faux musical theater productions. I did drawings for the three favorites.
...I would post the submitted lyrics, but I'm blogging out here on my little blogspot island without any official authorization and I don't want to cause any trouble for work or any stress for the people who submitted their pieces. I'll just paraphrase what they're about:
...
Manifesto! The People's Musical
This was for a funny submission about Mr. Marx trying to come up with a name for his book. I wanted to put a crowd of people below, cheering him on-- Karl was singing with an energetic chorus in the reader's piece-- but I had a lot of drawing to do already. So, this!
...Not too effective on it's own and probably a reference to "Peter Pan" that I could have communicated more clearly.
...Over the years I've used the theatrical "Peter Pan" reference in about half a dozen works. Any time somebody uses the the word "theater" I picture Sandy Duncan on a rope spinning helplessly out of control while people sing and dance below, probably secretly hoping that she doesn't get sick up there. (At an impressionable age they ran advertisements for the play during cartoons, perhaps trying to trick all of us into thinking it would be just like Disney's Peter Pan. I wanted to go until they told me Duncan was playing the lead. A girl playing Peter Pan? Pass.)
...
Goodfellas: The Musical
I've probably mentioned it before but I don't have a lot of confidence in my caricatures. I'm pretty happy with the way these turned out, though. Joe Pesci was my favorite of the 3 until I added the hat; for some reason he stopped looking like Joe Pesci to me. Oh, well.
...

The Sound of An Inconvenient Truth
Ha! The music from "The Sound of Music" with new lyrics, it's all about the changing climate etc.
...I used to do the occasional editorial cartoon when I worked at the Oakland Tribune, so I could scratch out a Gore, or a Bush, or an Arafat now and then. I haven't had that opportunity in a long time but drawing this took me back to those days.
...It's fun to make fun of politicians! Republicans! Democrats! They all make me laugh! Some more than others, it's true, but let's not get into that here.

Drawn with pencils, scanned with a scanner and colored inside a futuristic computer!

The End!
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