The Book of Rannells: The Simpsons: Season 27, Episode 18 – “How Lisa Got Her Marge Back” (2016)

I feel like most actors (and plenty of non-acting public figures) end up on The Simpsons at one point or another.  In Andrew Rannells’s case, he’s playing a satirical version of himself.  I enjoy celebrities being good sports, and Rannells is pretty game here.

When Lisa overhears Marge complaining about jazz, she’s heartbroken to realize her mother has only been pretending to like Lisa’s music.  Marge is in turn dismayed to have Lisa so upset with her, and she takes Lisa on a mother/daughter trip to Capital City to try and mend fences.  Meanwhile, Bart has fallen into a rut with his pranks; all his usual suckers seem to see through him.  It’s not until he teams up with Maggie that he gets his mojo back.

For later-seasons Simpsons, it’s pretty enjoyable.  I love Maggie, and it’s cute to watch Bart bonding with her – Maggie’s got kind of a sly streak, so it makes sense that they’d make a good team.  And even though it’s frustrating to see Lisa be so myopic with Marge, it’s realistic.  Lisa is quite mature for her age, but she’s also very sensitive, and I get that she would be hurt to discover Marge’s well-intentioned white lies.

Rannells enters the picture during the Capital City trip, performing in one of the city’s terrible “Broadway-caliber” shows.  He’s starring in Bad News Bears:  The Musical, which Marge takes Lisa to see, and sings a bit in a montage of the show’s tacky, schmaltzy songs.  I got a kick out of the posters outside the theatre promoting him – the “Google him – you’ll be impressed!” sign makes me laugh.  Besides performing in the show itself, Rannells inevitably winds up meeting Marge and Lisa.

The characterization used for him is a little all over ther place, but it’s still funny.  He’s portrayed as kind of a needy attention hog, giving unsolicited autographs, quoting his own reviews, and fishing for remarks on how famous he is.  He’s also played as both somewhat socially tone-deaf (blithing inviting himself to join Marge and Lisa for dinner after the show) and surprisingly perceptive (quickly idenitifying the source of Lisa’s conflict with Marge and addressing Lisa’s attitude about it.)  In short, he’s pretty much whatever the plot and/or the joke calls for him to be at any given moment.

Additionally, the storyline offers some fun Broadway jokes.  I love all the posters for the horrible Capital City shows (tons of musicals from movies, shameless plugs for D-list celebrities, etc.), and I like the gag that, no matter what each musical is about, they’re all really about falling in love.

Recommend?

In General – Sure.  It’s a solid enough episode – the jokes are amusing, I always enjoy when The Simpsons does theatre, and I like the Bart-Maggie plot.

Andrew Rannells – Maybe.  This cameo is fairly insubstantial and kind of scattered, but it’s fun, too, and I like watching actors poke fun at themselves.

Warnings

A little slapstick violence.