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I love ‘Dead Gay Son’
Theater: That blast of fresh theatrical air rushing from the Off Center is “I Love My Dead Gay Son,” a musical riff on the ’80s teen angst movie, “Heathers,” from Yellow Tape Construction, a new company with truckloads of creativity.
Director Jonathon Morgan and his crew of writers and composers realized that a reverential musical adapation of the line-perfect teener would bore, so they mashed together dialogue from the screenplay, including the howler in the title, along with new, raucus scenes and snippets of ’80s culture.
COURTESY OF YELLOW TAPE CONSTRUCTION
The music echoes bits of punk, New Wave, pop, dance and Broadway from that era, without ever settling into something recognizable or memorable, and the large cast massacres the songs gleefully with shouts, warbles and grunts. The raw, crazed dancing looks like it was slingshot from “Footloose” by way of “Hairspray” and the residue of “Grease.”
COURTESY OF YELLOW TAPE CONSTRUCTION
The performers, and therefore the audience, ate it up like candy. Not content to leave well enough alone, the creative team borrowed hints from the movie and turned them into extended fantasies — such as making explicit the homoerotic undertones in the dude-isms of jocks Kurt and Ram, played here with naughty gusto by Errich Petersen and Douglas Rutherford.
COURTESY OF YELLOW TAPE CONSTRUCTION
Tim Doyle, who contributed words and music, plays the keyboards in the band and also portrays sociopath JD, dropping Christian Slater’s Jack Nicholson impersonation and instead throwing his body, voice and energy into the over-the-top-of-the-top frenzy fest. But of all the actors, the one who exemplifies everything “Dead Gay” is Breanna Stogner as the biggest, baddest “Heather.” She flips some kind of switch in her head in order to channel a gush of teen-ness that chokes the audience with laughter.
There is little in the way of character development, and the movie’s clean narrative is sliced and diced into a million pieces. Yet if you catch the “Dead Gay” fever in the first few moments, the next two hours provide limitless diversion. Strong recommendation: If you’ve never seen “Heathers” — and shame on you! — rent the DVD first.
Permalink | Comments (5) | Categories: By Michael Barnes
Comments
By Patti Hadad
July 2, 2006 11:36 AM | Link to this
The energy and humor kept up through out the entire show. I especially loved this musical because it touched about every pop culture reference I grew up with in the '80s. Nice blog-review.
By Dorris
June 28, 2006 5:52 PM | Link to this
wow. no kidding. huh.
By Brenner
June 26, 2006 2:00 PM | Link to this
Hey, Michael. I, too, would like to not fault you for being in an especially good mood this week.
I mean, I realize that it's easy for us --- any of us --- to guilt-trip ourselves when we're experiencing an especially good mood, and I just wanted to join my generous pal Curtis in letting you know that, seriously, there's nothing at all wrong with enjoying life to the extent that it presents in such an obvious way.
Okay?
You alright now? You sure?
Great, that's great.
Lemme know if you need anything else, okay? A drink, an aspirin, whatever.
Me and Curtis: We're here for you, man.
By Jill
June 25, 2006 10:16 PM | Link to this
Hello Michael - wondering if you happened to have had an opportunity to see the concert version of Music Man at the Paramount. Though it was only a concert version (which basically meant full-blown choreography and staging, but only minimal props and no scenery), it was phenomenal - and I only saw the dress rehearsal. I cried through the whole thing. Rebecca Luker and Jim Walton were fantastic, the Austin cast was incredible and the kids were AMAZING! Very inspiring. We are so lucky to have Robin Lewis and Todd Dellinger in our community. Look for good things to come from these guys! This doesn't have anything to do with YellowTape, but I was so excited about it I wanted to comment anyway!
By Curtis J
June 25, 2006 12:05 AM | Link to this
Wow. You must be in an especially good mood this week. No faulting you there. Just hoping your critical capacities return soon.