Wordplay, Music, and Hilarity at “Dances with Words”

Bestselling author Richard Lederer and musical comedian Bill Shipper team up on October 20 at the Colonial Theatre’s Showroom to deliver a delightful program of wordplay in music and song. These two verbaholic punsters present memorable musicality, rhythmic rhymes, tons of tonality, and heaps of hilarity, all with gracious grammar and alluring alliteration. Doors open at 6:30 pm and the show begins at 7 pm.

Celebrating the crazy world of the English language with topics such as musical idioms, wordplay, limericks and the circus, their performance DANCES WITH WORDS is truly “edutainment” – learning dressed up to have fun. The event is a co-production of the Historical Society of Cheshire County and the Colonial Theatre.

DANCES WITH WORDS will appeal to lovers of language such as teachers, students, or anyone who would like to know the difference between a heteronym and a homonym, or whether there are any figures of speech that fit in a portmanteau. Tickets are $10 and will be available through the Colonial Theatre.

Richard Lederer is the author of more than 50 books about language, history, and humor, including his best-selling Anguished English series and his current books, A Pleasury of Word & Phrase Origins and So That’s What It Means. He has been profiled in magazines as diverse as The New Yorker, People, and the National Inquirer and was founding co-host of “A Way With Words” on Public Radio. He has been elected International Punster of the Year and Toastmasters International’s Golden Gavel winner.

Musical comedian Bill Shipper writes songs imbued with words for nerds and lyrical, satirical, quasi-empirical tunes guaranteed to tickle your punny bone. Whether poking fun at foodies or business and technology with favorites such as “My Lover Loves Liver,” “Tears on My Spreadsheet,” and “Dirty Data,” Bill Shipper never fails to deliver a hilarious, delightful concert.

CLICK HERE FOR TICKETS