By Ernest Kearney — This musical celebrates that Mecca of Nerd-dom, The San Diego Comic-Con International aka Comic-Con. Four magical days every summer filled with celebrity panels, Sci-Fi seminars, previews of wannabe blockbusters, video game tryouts, cos-play and small herds of pot-bellied Spidermans.
This production has much to recommend it, and starts off with gusto. But regrettably falls victim to the inability of its creators to focus and refine what they’re offering on stage.
Laura Watkins who wrote music and lyrics has penned some delightful ditties, probably my favorite being “I Have Always Been a Douchebag,” but she has blunted the impact of the gems by burying them beneath an excess of less than toe-tapping tunes.
Twenty-three, not counting reprises; the magic number is eighteen. If you dare to up the count to twenty you darn well better be Hello Dolly. Unfortunately, Comic-Con The Musical isn’t.
The book by Nicholas David Brandt carries an irony in that “originality” plays into the plot, a plot somewhat devoid of that very quality.
The cast is generally strong and keen to their back teeth – Luke Adams, Ryan Coates, Ryan Shrime, Mark Lewis and Jessica Gardner being the shine outs.
Gardner also pulls duty as the choreographer and co-director along with Brandt, and Gardner’s work in the former task sparkles even within the confines of a challenging venue.
But flaunting its weaknesses rather than featuring its strength, at two hours plus this titanic sized production provides an iceberg of its own devising.
A BRONZE MEDAL.
♦ ♦ ♦
Comic-Con: The Musical
Final Fringe 2017 Date Tonight
Thursday, June 22, 2017 — 5:00 pm
Where:
Sacred Fools Theater Company
6320 Santa Monica Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90038
For Tickets and Information:
hollywoodfringe.org/projects/4333
Support the Voices of The TVolution
Like us on Facebook and Please Subscribe