Line #24 Theatre/MonkyBusiness


1	''I'm my Brother's keeper!''
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3	Monky Business (not to be confused with a [[Film/MonkeyBusiness certain Marx Brothers movie]]) is a 2003 musical comedy by Todd Mueller, Hank Boland, and Gregg Opelka. The brothers of St Bernard's Monastery have been given a 30-day deadline to raise $250,000 before their beloved monastery [[SavingTheOrphanage is to be razed and turned into a casino]]. The bad news is, 29 days have passed. The good news is, they still have one trick left to try - a {{telethon}} on radio station WGOD, which will include five minutes of nationwide airtime for the merry monks to make their appeal.
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5	But little do [[CloudCuckoolander Abbot Costello]], [[CelibateHero Brother Lee Love]], [[TheFinickyOne Brother Brooks]] and [[TheSpeechless Brother Forte]] realize that one of their number has other plans. The new arrival, Brother Clarence, is a DevilInDisguise who's out to earn his horns by sinking the fundraiser ... even if it means putting up with a scratchy burlap robe in the meantime.
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7	Sometimes referred to as the male ''[[Theatre/{{Nunsense}} Nunsense.]]''
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9	----
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11	!!This work contains examples of:
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13	* AsTheGoodBookSays: ''Numerous'' Biblical references, quotes, and parodies, particularly in the songs "Cheerful Giver," "My Brother's Keeper," and "The Greatest Book on Earth."
14	* BlasphemousBoast: After his miracle, and with Brother Clarence's urging, Brother Forte begins to offer autographed Bibles as a pledge reward ... autographed by Brother Forte, naturally.
15	* BreakTheHaughty: After spending most of Act Two believing that he's literally God's gift to the monastery, Brother Forte is framed as a fraud by Brother Clarence. To Brother Forte's horror, the callers rapidly abandon the pledge drive.
16	* BunnyEarsLawyer: Abbot Costello has a kooky sense of humor and always seems one step away from utter silliness. But when things look darkest during the telethon, he's also the one to teach a quiet lesson about their namesake, St. Bernard of Clairvaux, and the need to carry on faith even if it appears you won't get what you want.
17	* CelibateHero: Brother Lee Love is a variation: he made his vows and he intends to keep them, but it doesn't stop him from quietly thinking how nice it would be if he could set it all aside and have an actual girlfriend ... or even if he could make sense of why he's supposed to do without.
18	* DeliberatelyPainfulClothing: The plain, uncomfortable burlap robe is celebrated in the song "Mohair Rag" as this:
19	--> Yes, mohair, not faux hair,
20	--> It's ugly and it's scratchy and you look like you're in drag ...
21	* DivideAndConquer: When an unexpected miracle foils his first plan, Brother Clarence starts turning the once-lovable Brother Forte into a prima donna, to the extreme annoyance of Brother Brooks and Brother Lee Love.
22	* DivineIntervention: Act One ends with the nationwide broadcast starting in 10 seconds, and every monk out of commission except for the mute Brother Forte [[spoiler: who miraculously [[ThrowingOffTheDisability regains his voice]] just in time to go on the air]]! Act Two introduces a quieter one in which God [[spoiler: has been filling in for the missing radio station manager all along and helps them clear the last little distance to their goal]] once the brothers show they've learned the necessary lessons.
23	* DoorstopBaby: Brother Lee Love was left on the doorstep of St Bernard's monastery and taken in by Abbot Costello.
24	* EvilGloating: Brother Clarence's song "Satan's Place" and its reprise are all about this.
25	** In addition, the casino developer phones the station to gloat about the monks' lack of progress and remind them to have everything cleared out of the building in the morning.
26	* TheHermit: Brother Clarence's cover story is that he was a cave hermit prior to living in the monastery.
27	* ItsAllAboutMe: Brother Forte falls into this trap in Act Two, with some help from Brother Clarence.
28	* MoodWhiplash: The musical opens with the monks entering by candlelight, chanting Latin ... and suddenly bursting into an "I've Got Rhythm"-style song and dance number.
29	** Later, a radio mystery builds up the tale of an unexpected visitor to the monastery - who turns out to be looking for directions to [[ProductPlacement the Gatehouse Bar & Grill.]]
30	* OffscreenCrash: After discovering that their starting $15,000 has been reduced to $14,800 because of the radio station's security deposit.
31	-> '''BROTHER BROOKS:''' But we'll be getting that back, won't we?
32	-> ''Offstage crash''
33	-> '''BROTHER CLARENCE:''' Most of it.
34	* OnAScaleFromOneToTen: The monks start to debate about how to rank [[Literature/TheBible The Bible's]] miracles on a 1 to 10 scale.
35	* ProductPlacement: The monks frequently plug several fictitious products - literally in the case of [[TongueTwister Charlie's Chaw, the chaw of choice for choosy chewers.]] (''[[StockSoundEffects Sound of ringing spittoon.]]'')
36	* {{Pun}}: Every single character name.
37	* ScriptSwap: Abbot Costello mixes up the commercial spots for Charlie's Chaw and Peabody Toupees in midstream.
38	* ShoutOut:
39	** The Latin "hymn" that opens the musical is actually from Ovid's Metamorphoses.
40	** One caller, a Jew from Florida, declares "[[Theatre/FiddlerOnTheRoof Wonder of wonders, miracle of miracles]], I'd like to give you a million dollars! (Excitement) But I can only give fifty. I'd give more ... if I were a rich man."
41	** Brother Clarence, naturally, is a call back to another Clarence [[Film/ItsAWonderfulLife with a more heavenly mission]].
42	** The "David and Forte" ventriloquist act includes a Latin translation of Groucho Marx's elephant-in-my-pajamas gag.
43	** A warning that the new casino will include a pool hall in the cellar begins to derail into the patter of [[Theatre/TheMusicMan "Ya Got Trouble"]] before Brother Brooks gets everyone back on point.
44	* SleazyPolitician: During the telethon, the mayor calls the monks on the air ... to tell the listeners that he thinks the proposed casino would be a huge economic boost to the community and that he thinks the redevelopment should go right ahead.
45	* StockSoundEffects: The mute Brother Forte runs the sound effects table, which includes all the radio classics, such as creaking doors, mysterious footsteps, and so on.
46	* TamperingWithFoodAndDrink: Brother Clarence puts a little something into the buck pies that have been provided for the telethon, to guarantee that the monks will be helplessly sick when their five minutes of national air time arrives.
47	* {{Telethon}}: The brothers need to raise nearly $250,000 (the bake sale picked up a few bucks) in one night, courtesy of local radio station WGOD.
48	* TimeStandsStill: TheDevil gives Brother Clarence the ability to freeze time with a finger snap, but he can't change anything in the stopped world - it's only usable for buying time to think, gloat, or talk with his boss.
49	* {{Ventriloquism}}: As part of the radio telethon, Brother Forte stages a ventriloquist act, the "David and Forte Show." Yes, that's the ''mute'' Brother Forte.
50	--> One's a dummy, the other's a mute,
51	--> Put 'em both together and it's awfully cute!

Context Theatre / MonkyBusiness