On Thursday the 3rd, Mer and I headed over to Actors’ Summit Theater to see Guys on Ice, a (are you ready?) musical about ice fishing. We were a little skeptical, but were happily surprised. It was a three-man show, mostly about two friends shooting the breeze while ice fishing in an ice shanty. Along the way, they sing about things. Odd, but it worked pretty well. It was all fluff, but who cares? It was entertaining.

The two friends are fishing while waiting for a local reporter to show up to feature them on “that fishing show.” The reporter never shows, of course, but they spend the day fishing and trying to get rid of an irritating fisherman, The Moocher, who bums bait and beer. The play took place in Wisconsin, so there was fun with accents and some pokes at football – one of the guys was in trouble with his wife because he had Packers tickets on their anniversary (he rightly pointed out, “I’ve only knnown my wife 17 years – I’ve had a relationship with the Packers for 38 years!”).

The music was fun and lighthearted. It was backed by solo piano, but the piano was played very well. There was a fun number about being the King of Fishing, where one of the guys imagined himself as the Elvis of Ice Fishing, with the result that his friend comes back in the shanty wondering why the singer is standing on his bait bucket. My favorite number was a tribute to snowmobile suits. They guys were wearing full snowmobile suits, and sang about them, and they provided percussion by using the velcro flaps of the suits. That was great.

So, all in all, Guys on Ice was a big hit with me and Mer. It was not deep at all, it was all fluff, and it was great. It was a good way to spend a Thursday evening (excpet for the surprise of remembering that I had to work the next day!).