Alien vs. Musical: Resurrection

REVIEW: ALIEN VS. MUSICAL

BY RYAN M. LUÉVANO

The battle between alien and musical theater characters continues at this year’s Hollywood Fringe Festival as the infamous musical Alien Vs. Musical is back with a new and extended version. Creators Erik Przytulski and Steve Troop have developed a piece that’s both the product of the edgy parodies that the Hollywood Fringe Festival is known for and something they each love: aliens and musicals. The fusion of the all of this results in a hilarious and satirical theater piece that satisfies the taste of musical theater fans and sci-fi alien connoisseurs leaving audiences to ponder the question: When little orphan Annie enters the ring with a big and hungry alien who will you root for?

If you know the movie Alien, then you will appreciate how Przytulski and Troop have brought elements of this cinematic horror film to the stage intermixed with a flock of musical theater characters, like Tracy (Hairspray), Maria (Sound of Music), Mark (Rent), Harold (The Music Man) and Annie (Annie) to name a few. What’s more, the storyline of these two colliding worlds blend together so decorously that it’s as if they’ve always belonged together. The success of this is twofold: first, the book of this musical does an excellent job merging these stories together, and second, director Matthew Tyler and choreographer Regina Laughlin have worked hard to bring out the physical attributes of each world in every move the players make.

Matthew Tyler keeps the pace of this show constantly flowing while underscoring the danger that the aliens represent as intruders in the Land of Musicals—he keeps you on the edge of your seat until the alien attacks, or a song begins. Laughlin’s choreography offers exciting familiar musical theater dance styles that serve to typify the individual musical characters and the spontaneous song and dance that occurs in the Land of Musicals. Add to this the iconic musical theater costumes by Taylor Moten, the befitting character make-up by Rachel Tyler and then the vivid creature design by Steve Troop and suddenly the visual realm is fully line with the book’s premise.

And since it’s a musical, the songs and underscoring only take us deeper into this war of the worlds. Przytulski’s music and lyrics further brings out the parody in the show with his pastiche songs that evoke the music from the real-life musical whence the characters originated. We get R&B numbers for Effie (Dreamgirls), rock versus for Mark, dramatic ballads for Valjean (Le Miserable), 50’s music for Danny (Grease) and Tracy, and patter songs for Harold. The score also contains some heavy rock numbers that suit the alien world and the darker side of the show offering a refreshing contrast to the music from the rest of the show.

The ten-person ensemble of Alien Vs. Musical is absolutely incredible, everyone knows their character and offers first-rate performances of the original music. Allie Costa (Annie) offers one of the strongest performance as the little orphan girl—she fearlessly exudes her character and exhibits her superior voice in all her songs. The other “little girl” character, Ally Mulholland, shows her vocal dexterity as she sings both as Tracy and Mother Abbess—a top-notch vocal talent that demands your attention. Brad Simanski (Mark, and Tony) is hilarious, he gives us exaggerated versions of these well known characters and sings his heart out the whole time. Christopher Bunyi’s (Danny, Alexander Hamilton) performance is solid and cool; he performs both his characters with swagger and vocal strength. Brianne Sanborn (Maria) takes her character through the greatest transformation by the end of the show and offers a compelling performance of her rock number in the end.

WHAT ABOUT THE MUSIC DIRECTOR?

Music director and pianist Emily Cohn is the musical life-blood of the show. She has the remarkable ability to lay down a groove in the left-hand that is steady and vigorous. She flawlessly leads the four-piece band and cast through all of the different musical styles and provides the best underscoring to take us from scene to scene.

Alien Vs. Musical is the quintessential musical parody; it doesn’t take itself too seriously, all the elements are well crafted and the show maintains steady and continuous laughter from beginning to end. Join them for Masquerade Night on Friday June 17th and come dressed as your favorite musical theatre or sci-fi character.

Alien Vs. Musical plays at the Sacred Fools Theater Main Stage (1076 Lillian Way, Los Angeles CA 90038) for four performances and one preview.

CLICK HERE for a Tin Pan L.A. Exclusive with Erik Przytulski and Steve Troop!

PERFORMANCES:

Friday, June 17th @ 11:30pm

Thursday, June 23rd @ 8:30pm

Sunday, June 26th @ 6:00pm

For tickets and more information visit: www.hollywoodfringe.org