“Most offensive Musical Balagan has done so far. If you want culture go f*** yourself.”
Is how the announcer started off the evening ten minutes late. By culture I think he meant something like Wagner. Strangely, the whole evening reminded me very much of a Wagner Opera-excellent music, appalling libretto. Gott sei Dank, it was much shorter than the average Wagner opera.
Originally an “independent comedy horror film shot in 2007 about a cursed turkey killing off college students during the Thanksgiving break by Jordan Downey and Kevin Stewart”, “Thankskilling” was adapted into a musical by David Eck, Jeff Thomson and Jordan Mann. It was very much in the style of the Rocky Horror Show, but a few decades too late. It tried to send-up all the old horror movies, but was pretentiously and repetitively raunchy.
However, the audience seemed to like it. “Thankskilling”, made lots of jokes about drinking, sex, and was fairly pornographic at times. Shock! Shock! But did not make a huge amount of sense, lacked a fast pace and production values to make it terribly interesting to me.
It also reminded me of how detrimental the openness about sex has been to creativity. In the old days Cole Porter referred to sex in very indirect ways which were hilarious. In this production, the sex was too graphic physically and verbally to be very funny and the repetitive use of four letter words showed a lack of creativity.
The Music and lyrics by Jeff Thomson and Jordan Mann displayed some real talent as some of the songs were zippy and funny. Chris Ranney, who performed all the songs live on the piano was outstanding. Although the song “Man-Love” did not advance the plot and seemed an absolute non-sequitor, it was funny and witty. At times, the diction of the singers was not the best, but Brian Lange, who played a variety of parts, Lindsey Larson, as Ali and Evan Hildebrand, as Darren, stood out.
Thankskilling-the Musical clearly appeals to the younger generation and the people who enjoy Seth Rogan movies.
THANKSKILLING. Balagan Theatre. Cornish Playhouse Studio at Seattle Center. Weekends through Saturday, December 14, in the Cornish Playhouse Studio at Seattle Center. www. balagantheatre.org.