One of Our Own Makes Good: Marc Does a Musical

Long-time e-zine/site readers and friends of SCR will probably recognize the name Marc Hirsh — back in the day, Hirsh was one this site’s earliest, best, and most hardworking writers, a guy who also served as the “Bad Cop” in the bugging-you-about-reviews realm. In the intervening years, he’s moved up to Boston, attended and dropped out of grad school at Harvard, and somehow managed to make a living actually writing as a freelancer for places like the Boston Globe, MSNBC, NPR.org. If you read stuff on the MSNBC site about American Idol or Heroes, odds are you’re reading stuff Marc’s written.

On the side, he also does some improv comedy stuff, these days with ImprovBoston crew (mostly on the TheatreSports side, but sometimes in IB shows, as well, I think). Through a very odd set of serendipitous happenings this past spring, he ended up writing his first-ever musical (or, hell, play of any type, for that matter), and the Improv Boston folks wanted to put it on, so…

Well, Marc’s first dramatic offering, What Does America Mean To Me, a musical comedy about U.S. history and the lack of knowledge thereof. Now, while Marc’s new to the playwriting thing, he’s not new to being funny — he’s honestly one of the funniest people I’ve ever met. No, really. Not to set the bar too high or anything, but it’s gonna be good.

Anyway, the show’s running a super-ultra-limited engagement up at the ImprovBoston theatre at 40 Prospect St., Central Square, up in Cambridge (duh), this coming June 26th through 29th. Sadly, yours truly will be feebly clawing his way out of the Grand Canyon right then, but if anybody out there is going to be in Boston right then (or really loves musical theater, enough to shell out the $$$ for plane tix), I’d like to encourage/pester you to go, go, go. If you won’t do it for Marc, then do it for me, man.

P.S. Congrats, man. I’m still having a hard time wrapping my head around this, but it’s freakin’ cool as hell nonetheless.