A New Play about The Ramones written by Kripke from The Big Bang Theory

Cafe Society
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O.K., I actually have never seen The Big Bang Theory but I know there are lots of fans here so I went and put Kripke in the Thread Title thinking the connection might interest some of you.

I got to know Kripke actor John Ross Bowie’s work through the alternative comedy scene in L.A. and I always thought he was pretty cool so I was excited when I heard that he had written a play about The Ramones.

Four Chords and a Gun tells the story of The Ramones working with Phil Spector to record their fifth album End of the Century. So many conflicting accounts have been written about those recording sessions- often there are contradictions in even one person’s retellings of the story depending on the interview or book that the quote is sourced from. So, the play opens with Marky Ramone addressing the audience (much as Tennessee Williams opens The Glass Menagerie), “This is a memory play. Like most memories, some of it will be inaccurate and a lot of it is bullshit.”
Thematically, it examines a conflict of ideas about how art should be created: must it be immediate, elemental, and raw? or should it be crafted, deliberate, and perfected? The main conflict plays out between Johnny Ramone and Phil Spector.

It’s playing through this month at The Bootleg Theater in Los Angeles.

I recommend it, I thought it was really good.
It’s well written, focusing on the more broadly relatable themes making it enjoyable and accessible without relying on the audience to be Ramones fans. The direction and the performances allow the characters to be real people rather than icons. The actor who plays Phil Spector is maybe a little too cartoonish, which is a minor weak point since his character is meant to hold up one of the two opposing philosophies at the heart of the story. Still, Phil Spector has always been so cartoonish in real life that I imagine it would be hard to play him authentically without coming off over the top. The actor who plays Johnny is excellent, one of the highlights of any performance I’ve enjoyed in small theater in a long time.

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As a Ramones fan, thanks for telling us about this. I doubt I’ll make the trip to LA to see this (although then I could do a double feature with Eat That Question…), but at least now I’ll recognize it if I ever hear of it again.

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Same here - looks fascinating.

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I’ve heard Johnny Ramone lament those sessions in interviews. He was incredulous at how many takes he was told to do of the opening chord for Rock And Roll High School. He said they were all the same, and I’ll take Johnny’s word about that. (This is not to mention all of the gun stuff.) :eek:

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Shouldn’t that be “The Wamones”?

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You lost me right there.

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The writer says he doesn’t have plans to tour this production but that he hopes to get other productions up in other cities. If you live somewhere that has a strong local theater scene, it could be possible.

That’s exactly what the script used for the big Johnny/Phil blow out! It was one of the best scenes!

You missed a whole Thread about a cool play about the Ramones!

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UPDATE Jan 2018:

If any interested parties live near Tulsa, OK, there will be a production of this play done by the Tulsa Project Theatre.

And for anyone who doesn’t know the playwright from his acting on The Big Bang Theory, in the time since this Thread was first posted he has been playing the Dad on the sitcom Speechless.