Laughing about the MBTA? That’s the goal of this satiric musical

SOMERVILLE, Mass. — It’s common knowledge that some serious problems plague the MBTA.

Now a local theater production is trying to give harried commuters some comedic relief.

They are staging a satiric musical called “T: An MBTA Musical” at the Rockwell in Somerville’s Davis Square.

One of the big numbers features a trio of MBTA employees singing “It’s time to bring about some catastrophic frustration.”

“It’s cathartic,” said Mel Carubia, who wrote the music and lyrics. “The way we frame these problems is so cartoonish, so outlandish, so over the top that you can’t help but laugh at them.”

Some of her inspiration came from her own experiences as a student at Boston College, like the first time she rode thru Kenmore Square after a Red Sox game.

“The train just flooded with all these guys with Red Sox gear and they’re hooting and hollering,” said Carubia. “They started to use the T as their personal gym. They started using me as their personal gym, bench pressing me over their heads.”

All the headlines about the T’s foibles are a gift that keeps on giving.

The show is constantly updated to reflect the latest news.

“The time the train got stuck over the Mystic River and people jumped in it, that makes an appearance in one of our lyrics,” explained Carubia. “The fact that the General Manager keeps changing every other month, those are things that appear in the show.”

She says when the Orange Line was moving notoriously slow, they had one of the cast members sing a song in slow motion. “The audience lost it because it was something that made the news that day.”

Mike Manship wrote the play.

“It’s the story of three people who have been frustrated by the MBTA, who blame the MBTA for their problems, and believe it has stopped them from living their dream and the life they want to live.”

One audience member told Boston 25 News he was at the show for the second time. “It’s extremely accurate. We’ve experienced half of these things in just the past week.”

Another said, “I think most of the people got the inside jokes they’re throwing out which is pretty cool.”

That is music to Carubia’s ear. She hopes the play runs a long time and thinks the T helps bond Bostonians.

“It’s like talking about traffic on 93. It’s like talking about the weather every day. It is Boston. It’s the very fiber of who we are.”

The next performance will be Friday, May 5.

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