Software musical celebrates nerds with song and dance

By Mark Costello
Collegian Editor
February 28, 2007

It was my sheer delight Feb. 16 to see Nerds: A Musical Software Satire at the Philadelphia Theater Company (17th and Delancey Streets, in Philadelphia).

The musical gave a semi-fictionalized account of the rivalry between Microsoft and Apple, starting with Steve Jobs (played by Charlie Pollock), Bill Gates (Jim Poulos), the Woz (David Rossmer) and Paul Allen (Andrew Cassese) meeting at the Homebrew Computer Club in late 1970s California, and progressing through to the Microsoft antitrust lawsuits of the late 1990s. All in all, the play offers users a number of ports to plug into, being a digital hoot not just for technodweebs but neophytes as well.

The work was written by Jordan Allen-Dutton and Erik Weiner, with music by Hal Goldberg, and was directed by Philip Wm. McKinley. The play focuses on the human (read: nerdy) sides of the computer moguls rather than the technological, containing power ballads such as “I Am Just a Nerd” (sung by Gates, upon remembering his rough school years and the bullies that made them so) and “Revolution Starts With One” (a Jobs/Woz number that expounds their egalitarian views on the purposes of technology).

My superficial background in computers gave me just a little bit more to laugh at than someone who is unfamiliar with DOS or Linux would have, but that was the extent of it—I got a few more inside jokes than others might have, but the work is still very open and accessible for a non-technological audience.

After we are introduced to the cast of characters in the show’s opening number (“Homebrew Computer Club”), we see Woz and Jobs develop their first computer, which a perky Xerox employee (Sally, played by Chandra Lee Schwartz) from the Computer Club shows interest in later.

Meanwhile, Mr. Watson from IBM is showing considerable interest in an up-and-coming programmer, Bill Gates. They recruit him to obtain a disk operating system from a naïve programmer (Tim Patterson, played by Michael Parrish DuDell), which Gates and his partner (Paul Allen) agree to do at any cost (“Whatever it Takes”).

Later, Gates and Jobs both present their work at a computer convention: DOS, which Gates has kept for Microsoft rather than selling to IBM, fails to perform as planned while Jobs’ Macintosh does splendidly. Later, Gates and a team of e-terrorists from Microsoft coerce Jobs into telling him the secrets of cool, which Microsoft lacks. In a move that cripples Apple, Windows is released, and Microsoft establishes itself as a powerhouse, ending Act I.

Act II details Apple’s joining up with Linux, Cisco Systems, Netscape and a few other software innovators hurt by Microsoft in an antitrust suit that calls Microsoft to task; Gates, whose office resembles the Emperor’s suite from the Death Star, defends himself claiming naught but that he loves money (“I Gotta Love Money”).

In a deus ex machina move reminiscent of the best of bad comedy, Gates has an aside where he realizes that he is a just a nerd, hurting other nerds, having become the bully he hated so much from high school. He gives Green Peace $80 billion, helps Steve Jobs get Apple back on its feet and the technodweeb scene is thrown back into cohesion.

The show offers a gigabyte of comedy for users of all levels, with an interface that’s very flashy and accessible. The pot-smoking, glory-stealing Jobs offsets the down-to-earth revolutionary Woz; the imperialistic dictator Gates is a good foil for the NBA-aspiring Allen. Pollock and Poulos’ delivery is spot on, their singing angelic, and the show walks the fine line between deep comedy and slapstick pun-fest quite nicely (including a plethora of unprintable jokes revolving around Steve Jobs’ last name).

Walking in with an unsure set of expectations, I walked out of the Philadelphia Theatre Company smiling and satisfied. A user-friendly experience, I wish I could restart the show and—all right, I’ll stop with the computer puns.

Unfortunately, the show’s run just ended, but keep your eyes open for any revivals in the area. The show is just niche enough to avoid mainstream popularity, but a keen eye reading the arts page will alert you to its return. It’s not Wicked or Rent, and there’s something oddly refreshing about that; it’s original and witty, without having the ruining qualities of superstardom.

costellom4@lasalle.edu