#1
Posted: 3/14/15 at 1:05pm
About a week and a half ago I was invited to a reading of a musical parody of the Shining called Redrum. I'm honestly tired with the whole musical parody thing but I cannot get this show out of my head. It was in a little theater in the East Village where they do that Saved By the Bell musical. I seriously thought it was going to be awful but went because I love Alice Ripley and knew she was playing Wendy. Going in I kind of felt bad for Alice having to do something like this. She should be doing the next Next to Normal, not a musical parody of the Shining.
Well holy crap, I was wrong. Redrum is funny. Like Avenue Q/Book of Mormon funny. The whole show is a riot. Alice was amazing. She's hilarious and has some of the best songs in the show. I'm still hearing her songs in my head. Her chemistry with Douglas Sills and Andre Ward (who played Dick) was off the charts. Douglas was perfect as Jack. I have a whole new appreciation for him. He was so good. I don't want to give the jokes away but Jack sings a song about having sex with Judy Blume and Laura Ingalls Wilder from Little House on the Prairie. I know. It sounds awful. It's not. The lyrics are clever and hilarious. I get invited to many readings and I've never ever seen one where the audience gave a standing ovation at the end.
Whoever cast this reading did a phenomenal job. The actors were all superb. I recognized many of them. Andre Ward, who I knew from Rock of Ages and Xanadu, was a highlight. He sang a duet with Alice that I would buy right now if it was on iTunes. Then they had Elle McLemore from Bring It On playing Danny the little boy in the shining. She was amazing. She sang a song about the little boy in my mouth that was another standout. Tyler Maynard who I knew from Altar Boyz stole the show every time he opened his mouth. Tom Deckman from Spamalot played Tony. He was so good. Making Tony a character was genius by the way. This didn't feel like a normal reading. The cast totally gelled together. That's a credit to the writer/director who was very adorable introducing the show and the cast. It was cute to see the excitement on his face and the face of the composer who played piano for the reading. The band the composer led were amazing. The show had a great sound.
Redrum really feels like Spamalot meets Little Shop. You can tell they were nodding to Little Shop when they used the Grady sisters as backup singers in many of the songs. I didn't think there was one bad song in the bunch. The book is really hilarious. It's full of funny jokes and bits. The humor shifts from subtle wordplay to dick jokes effortlessly. It's definitely not for kids though. It's filthy. Jack and Danny sing a song about Danny sitting on his lap. It was uncomfortably funny. I was screaming.
I really think this has the potential to be a huge hit. Now I understand why Alice Ripley is doing this. I read in another article that it's supposed to open around Halloween. I can't wait.
Well holy crap, I was wrong. Redrum is funny. Like Avenue Q/Book of Mormon funny. The whole show is a riot. Alice was amazing. She's hilarious and has some of the best songs in the show. I'm still hearing her songs in my head. Her chemistry with Douglas Sills and Andre Ward (who played Dick) was off the charts. Douglas was perfect as Jack. I have a whole new appreciation for him. He was so good. I don't want to give the jokes away but Jack sings a song about having sex with Judy Blume and Laura Ingalls Wilder from Little House on the Prairie. I know. It sounds awful. It's not. The lyrics are clever and hilarious. I get invited to many readings and I've never ever seen one where the audience gave a standing ovation at the end.
Whoever cast this reading did a phenomenal job. The actors were all superb. I recognized many of them. Andre Ward, who I knew from Rock of Ages and Xanadu, was a highlight. He sang a duet with Alice that I would buy right now if it was on iTunes. Then they had Elle McLemore from Bring It On playing Danny the little boy in the shining. She was amazing. She sang a song about the little boy in my mouth that was another standout. Tyler Maynard who I knew from Altar Boyz stole the show every time he opened his mouth. Tom Deckman from Spamalot played Tony. He was so good. Making Tony a character was genius by the way. This didn't feel like a normal reading. The cast totally gelled together. That's a credit to the writer/director who was very adorable introducing the show and the cast. It was cute to see the excitement on his face and the face of the composer who played piano for the reading. The band the composer led were amazing. The show had a great sound.
Redrum really feels like Spamalot meets Little Shop. You can tell they were nodding to Little Shop when they used the Grady sisters as backup singers in many of the songs. I didn't think there was one bad song in the bunch. The book is really hilarious. It's full of funny jokes and bits. The humor shifts from subtle wordplay to dick jokes effortlessly. It's definitely not for kids though. It's filthy. Jack and Danny sing a song about Danny sitting on his lap. It was uncomfortably funny. I was screaming.
I really think this has the potential to be a huge hit. Now I understand why Alice Ripley is doing this. I read in another article that it's supposed to open around Halloween. I can't wait.
