Be More Chill

The musical Be More Chill had a short run but the cast album has inspired a rabid fan base. I was introduced to it by the shows breakout song "Michael in the Bathroom." The premise reminds me of Little Shop of Horrors. Each features a self-loathing protagonist goaded by a malevolent force into harming others for the sake of his crush. Audrey II wants to eat the world. The Squip wants to control it. The Squip in the novel could be cruel but it has been upgraded to full super villain in the musical. Seymour wants Audrey. Jeremy wants the underwritten Christine. She takes a back seat to Michael, the leading man's mistreated best friend. They get the duet and the arc. Hence the fan base (and the fan artists) focus on the bro-mance.

There's a lot of tonal whiplash on the album. I'm curious to see how a live production balances the black comedy with the uglier themes of depression and sexual assault. Particularly after watching season 3 of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend balance these so well.

Adapting Alice in Wonderland

Oz books have a quest structure that lends itself to adaptation. Wonderland books do not. Walt Disney managed to give Alice a small arc and some introspective ballads but the film was criticized for a "lack of heart." Recent musical adaptations have taken great liberties to give Alice a goal and an antagonist.

1985's Alice is pursued by a terrifying Godzilla-like Jabberwocky... and meets an equally terrifying Carol Channing.

2011's Wonderland ages Alice up to explore adult neuroses. Why is her inner child represented as a  dominatrix? Well she's got some issues.

2015's wonder.land sets the whole thing in cyberspace as a group of teens use their online avatars to cope with their anxiety's. Some critics found it brilliant while others found it incomprehensible. 

TV, films and video games have since turned Wonderland's characters into figures of fun, action and horror. Who's your favorite Alice?

Pokémon Live!

My video game series concludes (for now) with Pokémon Live! featuring Andrew Rannells, the Tony winning star of The Book of Mormon. A musical based on a cartoon based on a video game franchise in which children train cute animals to combat in battle arenas.

The show is online and as camp as can be with a non-canon straight romance to balance out all the subtext. I wonder what parents thought of the whole thing?

Edit: On September 15, 2016 the writer of Pokemon Live gave a fascinating interview with Game Informer magazine.

Dragon Quest: The Ballet

A ballet based on a video game? It exists and is currently online.

I lack the vocabulary to comment on the dance, though I’ve sat through enough Nutrcracker’s to know you can stage an exciting sword fight. Adding a Barbarian woman to the heroes team helps balance out the distressed damsels. I was really hoping the Dragon Lord would turn into a giant dragon puppet. (Spoiler: He doesn’t).

The most successful element of the project appears to be Koichi Sugiyama’s score. He’s composed gorgeous video game music since the 1980's and it lends itself well to the stage.

The Protomen

And now for something completely different.

I recently watched the documentary “Gaming in Color” which explores the intersections between the gaming and LGBTQ communities.

I saw parallels between the growing pains of the gaming industry and those of commercial musical theater. Both industries have found that quickly rising production costs and producers pushing for escapist entertainment have left creators fighting for art.

I’ve loved theater and video games for most of my life but rarely have the two worlds intersected. My small pile of video game design ideas includes an adventure game where you play a stage manager rushing to solve the technical and emotional problems backstage at a show before opening night.

I’ve decided to draw some comics this week that look at cultural intersections between musical theatre and gaming, from game characters portrayed on stage to in-game villains performing fabulous musical numbers. First up, THE PROTOMEN! A rock opera inspired by the Megaman games. The games started on the NES and followed a series of battling candy colored robots and their human creators. The rock opera reimagines the backstory for the anti-hero supporting character Protoman.

I’m not sure if there’s an audience for this topic beyond me. If you find these interesting, let me know in the comments.