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Funny money, Walt Whitman and Robinson Crusoe are all just off stage

Funny money, Walt Whitman and Robinson Crusoe are all just off stage
Jonathan Slaff

Seeing Bernie Madoff sentenced to 150 years in prison isn’t the only thing that can make us smile during these difficult economic times. There’s also “Tally Ho!” Theater for the New City’s rip-roaring musical about two seemingly financially stable men who turn out to be anything but when the market crashes.

And not just the market — everything in this production seems to crash, from the punches to the unwanted houseguests to the pies thrown into various faces. Eventually, the spoof takes a journey into the New Deal era, with a musical number by Miss Toxic Assets.

Sure, the market may be bad, but the good news is that this play is free.

“Tally Ho!” has performances on Aug. 9 at Herbert Von King Park in Bedford-Stuyvesant and on Aug. 22 in Prospect Park. For info, visit www.theaterforthenewcity.net.

Walt Whitman returns

Brooklyn is Walt Whitman town this summer.

The Artful Conspirators are putting on two free productions about the famed poet at Park Slope’s Old Stone House.

The first, David Miller’s “The Second Pipe of Desire,” is about two former allies split apart by the Civil War. The second, Dano Madden’s “Whitman’s Brooklyn,” recounts the writer’s life and work in a more standard format.

“The Second Pipe of Desire” will be performed on Aug. 1 and 8; “Whitman’s Brooklyn” will be on Aug. 9 and 16. For info, visit www.artfulconspirators.org.

Cast away

Remember Robinson Crusoe, the adventurous castaway? Now your kids can get to know him, too, in the spectacular one-man show, “Life on a Desert Island” in Prospect Park.

It’s interactive and outdoors, plus it’s free and only 60 minutes (which means a near-certain review by Trey Dooley is forthcoming).

Best of all for all the socially conscious, guilt-ridden parents out there, it’s full of lessons about the environment.

For info, visit www.theatreplayground.com.

Clowns and more

Open Variety Night will be wild at Galapagos Art Space in DUMBO

On Aug. 3, there will be tap-dancing bears, Kung Fu juggling, sword swallowers, comedy and aerialists suspended above your drinks.

And if you want to be performing on stage rather than just watching the action, e-mail variety@galapagosartspace.com, with “Open Variety” as the subject line.

For info, visit www.galapagosartspace.com.