F.C. Resident on 'Capital Steps' Plays State Theatre March 24

It must be hard for Mike Thornton. The Falls Church resident has a split personality. He’s half Democrat, half Republican. He’s got one foot in the present and the other in the past. Mike Thornton is both Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. At least when he’s on stage.

Thornton, a renaissance man of sorts, plays the two former presidents—along with countless other characters—in the popular DC comedy troupe, The Capital Steps.

The 25-person group travels all over the United States, but a share of them are always at their “home court,” so to speak, every weekend, as Thornton was the first weekend of March.

After impersonating the president, Thornton slipped out of the Ronald Reagan Building and raced up to Colorado Ave. to Twins Jazz Lounge to perform with his jazz band. This week, Thornton is not only appearing at Bohemian Caverns—the legendary nightclub of U Street lore—but will be performing live with his band at the State Theatre in Falls Church next Wednesday, March 24 at the hometown premier of “Laying Down Roots,” the new film by Falls Church activist Dave Eckert. Eckert hand-picked the local jazz singer to play the entire soundtrack to his film. Thornton obliged and performed the entire 25-minute set in just one take.

“We did a number of other takes, but after lots of fiddling in the studio, found the first one worked best,” Eckert said.

Eckert asked for something a bit “edgy” and the Mike Thornton Band offered up 25 minutes of gentle skat jazz featuring a piano, bass and vocalist that doesn’t overpower the narration but glides the film along like a steady companion.

As the band’s leader and the only musician to see the film prior to the session, Thornton guided his bandmates through the changes in theme throughout the performance.

Just as in jazz, Thornton’s “spoonerisms” during the Capital Steps performance makes sure the performer is no stranger to improvising. Named after the one-time head of Oxford, Rev. William Spooner, spoonerisms are a transposition of words or letters to create a more comical sentence. Halfway through the Capital Steps show, Thornton performs a monologue of spoonerisms called “Lirty Dies.”

Take, for example, this bit in describing the election between “Gush and Bore:”

“When Gush was stung and yupid, he was skunk as a drunk. He ended up in the penal pystem for I.U.D.”

Thornton, a self-proclaimed “non-political guy,” and the entire cast of Capital Steps consider themselves “Equal Opportunity Offenders,” trying to give balance in their satire. Thornton himself walks the fine line, being responsible for both presidents Bush and Clinton.

“They are two polarized people,” he said. “For Clinton, it’s part Elvis and part constipation. For Bush, he’s a guy who has been in the sun too long and smells something really funny.” Thornton’s descriptions alone are enough to invoke images of the two.

“I was trained in theatre,” Thornton said. Starting his career in New York City, he has years of experience with the longest running non-musical on Broadway, “Sheer Madness.”

“With both aspects of my career [jazz and Capital Steps], I get to travel, sing, act and make people laugh. I love it.”

“Laying Down Roots,” an informative look at the Neighborhood Tree Program in Falls Church, will be premiering Monday as part of the DC Environmental Film Festival. Doors open for the premier in Falls Church next Wednesday, March 24 at 6:30 p.m. at the State Theatre.

The Mike Thornton Band will be appearing Friday, March 19 at Bohemian Caverns in Washington, DC (2001 11th St., NW) at 9:30 p.m. and Saturday night, March 20 at the Ice House in Herndon (760 Eden St.)