Wharton Journal

Issue date: 2/12/07 Section: News

The Wharton Follies presented its thirty-first annual production, "D'Anjani Code," on Thursday and Friday, February 8th and 9th. Overflowing with inside humor, ethnic stereotypes and a healthy dose of misogyny, the show continued in the Follies tradition of offering unedited satire on Wharton life.

The "D'Anjani Code" production of the Follies is loosely tied to a plot about the hidden origins of WGA President Hassan El-Houry's assassination. The narrative is only peripheral: it serves as a thinly-veiled excuse to make crude jokes and take unnecessary jabs at any and all targets of opportunity. Which is how it should be.

If there were a single word to describe this year's Follies production, it would be "more": more random cameos from Wharton professors and staff, more references to the physical shortcomings of an entire subcontinent, more snarky on-screen comments from the perpetually marginalized writing staff. Finally, despite multiple predictions to the contrary, there were more first-years represented in the cast, with a more flamboyant Asian male headliner.

Although the show ran long at over three hours, it offered a few gems. Among the best of these was "Wharton Girl". Simultaneously raucous, offensive, informative and helpful, the performance explicitly described the dating tendencies of graduating second-years. In it, Lester Ding WG'08 turns in an especially memorable performance, hip-thrusting, crooning and dancing with abandon (while wearing generous amounts of foundation, blush and lipstick to boot). Another winner was "Pimp My Learning Team," featuring a Desi Xzibit and the second-most dysfunctional learning team in the history of Wharton (the first being yours). Lastly, "Lazy" closed the circle of hate by lamenting the work habits of the stereotypical WASP legacy admit. First-time headliners Justin O'Malley WG'07 and Whitney Miller WG'08 were brilliant as Bruce Springsteen and Paula Abdul in "Applicant Idol." Respectively.

This year's show was notable in that it featured the last appearance of outgoing Wharton School Dean and incoming U. of Delaware President Patrick Harker. Although his appearance was more muted than those of previous years, it was a fitting end to a long association with the Follies. The subsequent musical number, "Harker Don't Leave," was somewhat forced (e.g: You're the best Dean that we will ever lose/Make sure to send us some tax free booze/'Cuz what we need right now is/some bourbon on ice); however, it provided a short but crucial break from the continuous Indian-guys-are-small and chinese-people-are-good-at-math gags.

Continued...

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