The deep cuts of Schoolhouse Rock Live!

It's hard not to love the generation-spanning institution that is Schoolhouse Rock!. Hum a few bars of “Conjunction Junction” or “I’m Just A Bill” in mixed company, and you’ll have a full-throated chorus going in no time. Laboratory Theatre’s production of Schoolhouse Rock Live!, opening Friday, March 5 at the Bartell Theatre, relies heavily on the show's familiar tunes and planned sing-alongs for loads of audience participation. That said, the real stars are, and always will be, those classics everyone knows by heart. But what of the Schoolhouse Rock! deep cuts? If you’re going to attend this show, you’ll need to be prepared. The A.V. Club went digging through the bargain bin to see if any of the lesser-known tracks deserve another listen, or if they were forgotten with just cause.

“Interplanet Janet”

Key lyrics: "And there’s never been a planet Janet hasn’t seen / She’s been to the sun / It’s a lot of fun! / It’s a hotspot! / It’s a gas!"
Takeaway message: Admittedly, it’s tough to jam all that useful astronomy into three minutes, but for all of Janet’s space traveling, we’re left with broad strokes. We learn perfunctory nuggets like “Mars is red,” “Jupiter is big,” and “Uranus is built on a funny tilt.” It’s pretty sketchy, and it’s likely that Carl Sagan is softly weeping somewhere in the heavens.
Verdict: Rightful deep cut.

“Interjections!”

Key lyrics: "He cured the infection, with one small injection / While Reginald uttered some interjections / Hey! That smarts! / Ouch! That hurts! / Yow! That’s unfair giving a guy a shot down there!"
Takeaway message: Interjections aren’t as gnarly or misunderstood as, say, semicolons, but they are a lot more fun. And this ditty makes them even more enjoyable with plenty of non-annoying shouting interspersed some cool vignettes. Wow! It’s a total earworm!
Verdict: Unfairly forgotten.

“Figure Eight”

Key lyrics: "If you skate, you would be great / If you could make a figure eight / That’s a circle that turns round upon itself. "
Takeaway message: It takes almost half the song to get to the point: This paean to the number found between seven and nine is little more than a recitation of the multiplication tables. Granted, the vocals are kind of haunting and trippy, but it’s a tall order for any song to make basic math interesting.
Verdict: Rightful deep cut.

“The Tale Of Mr. Morton”

Key lyrics: "Mr. Morton is the subject of the sentence / And what the predicate says, he does."
Takeaway message: This tale of the socially awkward Mr. Morton and his clumsy advances toward his leggy neighbor, Pearl, ultimately ends in marriage and happiness. But the tune is a keeper because all its sentence-mapping pain is cleverly hidden in a narrative far more interesting than its subjects, predicates, nouns, and verbs have right to be.
Verdict: Unfairly forgotten.