What I liked
- Lyrics & Music: Very clever musical choices that are both catchy and indicative of the musical characters that they are inspired from. It’s quite easy to recognize what the songs are that are being referenced and that’s fun for someone who knows musicals well.
- The Actors: Great voices, great personalities. The cast has done an excellent job being an ensemble of musical characters, with Brianne Sanborn and Allie Costa shining as Maria and Annie respectively. But we’re talking tiny degrees of who’s the best here—everyone’s very good. Oh, and I can’t forget Levanna Atkinson-Williams’ solo. Great, great job there!
- The Puppetry: Loved it last year. Loved it even more this one. So impressively spot-on, even as it’s just the barest-bones in its iconography. It’s a great example of how less is more and still damn perfect at showing what it needs to be.
- The Marines: THIS addition was genius. Loved, loved, LOVED LOVED LOVED it. One of the highlights of the performance for me.
What I didn't like
- The Plot: I was hoping that an extended version of the show (or more fully ‘realized’, as described at the preview today) would be slightly more developed as a story. Unfortunately, it still feels a little too much like a simple series of episodes of “and now we do a song based on THIS musical”. I’d have loved to see a slightly more coherent TALE through it all. Especially in a world that is at least supposedly one where the rules are clear before the Alien arrives.
- The Hamilton addition: It felt, unfortunately, more like a gimmick than an fully necessary addition. And that’s too bad, because just when I was getting into the idea of a full on rap-battle between him and Henry Hill, it was over and I didn’t really have a choice in who to back. It felt a little under-developed, a tad incomplete in the final analysis. Although I loved the general IDEA of his arrival.
My overall impression
Last year’s Alien vs. Musical was one of the highlights of the festival for me, so when I heard that a longer, full version of the show was happening this year—let’s just say this was one of the first tickets I snagged when they went on sale.
I wanted to be thrilled all over again. I wanted the additions to be as exciting and surprising and fun as I had found the original show to be last year. And, frankly, I wanted to see how much I enjoyed the original show parts the second time around.
I’m very, very happy to say that 99% of the time, my desires and hopes were realized. Everything I loved last year remains just as much fun this time around. The songs, the performances, the giggly nature of seeing an Alien wipe out musical character after musical character….it all remains an enormously good time all around. The music and lyrics remains just as much fun as before as well.
And my favorite songs and performances? They’re here, too, including the incredibly broken and impossibly lovely song “There Are No Tomorrows” that cracks me up every time I hear it (because I have a somewhat sick mind, I suppose).
The additions are also, for the most part, brilliant. West Side Story joins the ever increasing cast, as does a gaggle of nuns that must be seen to be properly described. There is even a freedom-loving son of a whore who decides to drop in and attempt to solve the problem in his own rhythmical way. This last one isn’t quite as perfect, unfortunately, as I was hoping it would be—and if there’s a flaw in the show’s additions, it’s this particular one as it feels somewhat more of a gimmick than a proper addition, the first potential commercial fan-service rather than purely creative decision. But that’s a small flaw, I suppose, and one that most will overlook in the great joy of the show’s highlights.
Alien vs. Musical deserve the praise it received last year and I fully expect it to get more praise this year because it has grown in all the right ways. Do I wish it had a slightly stronger plot? Sure. Do I wish there were slightly tighter transitions in places (something that might well simply be the fault of seeing the preview)? Sure. Do I care about most of this enough to let it interrupt the smile of happiness that say on my face as I watched the show? Not at all.
And that same smile is what I saw on the face of everyone else I saw, at the show today, too.
