[Tos] offs

Let’s see—how to build excitement and anticipation for a musical in a city so full of musical theater that you can’t swing a cat without hitting someone who sings and dances? If you’re New Helvetia Theatre and you just can’t control yourselves, you make funny videos about it, call them “[tos] offs,” and rest assured that local musical-theater fans will know that means you’re really going to go all postmodern on their asses and produce [Title of Show] in Sacramento at the Artisan Theatre, October 8-30. You might allow locally legendary funnyman Jerry Lee to strut his stuff, while Connor Mickiewicz plays his straight man and cabaret-meister Graham Sobelman sits quietly. And you might take a paw swipe or two at Cats, just to please the local critics who freaking hate that show. Go check out the first of New Helvetia’s “[tos] offs” on its YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/user/newhelvetiatheatre.