Carubia, of Newton, wrote the 10 songs. Her friend John Michael Manship, who just moved from Jamaica Plain to Chicago, wrote the book. Both were involved with the Mosaic political sketch comedy troupe at ImprovBoston. More than a year ago, Carubia brought the group what she says was a seven-minute mini-musical about the T.
“The T kept coming up in conversation… . ‘Oh, I was on the Red Line, I got stuck underground for two hours,’ or ‘They went to shuttle buses on the Green Line and I didn’t expect it; sorry I’m 45 minutes late,’ ’’ she says. “It just became a part of city life, and it became apparent that it would be a great topic.’’
The Mosaic group quickly decided her idea should be a show, so she and Manship brought it to ImprovBoston leaders and got the OK for a full production.
She credits Manship with building the framework of plot. Young Bostonians Alice, John, and Michelle each have a problem that they blame on the T, and set out to find the T’s Big Boss using a map that Alice finds in her backpack. The mysterious Charlie, he of the eponymous card and Kingston Trio song, secretly guides them on their way. The cast features Patrick Parhiala as John, Sarah Tupper as Michelle, Emily Hecht as Alice, and Ray O’Hare as Big Boss.
Songs range from a number about shuttle buses in the style of “Cell Block Tango’’ from “Chicago’’ to “The Bro Song,’’ which channels Irish drinking songs and the Dropkick Murphys in chronicling the loutish behavior of some testosterone-poisoned locals. The latter number’s place in the show was recently reinforced by Carubia’s worst-ever T experience, she said, when a Green Line trip home from a downtown ballet performance just this spring coincided with the end of a Red Sox game.
