Three or four decades ago, when mega-musicals like “The Phantom of the Opera” and “Les Misérables” were all the rage, the musical parody was seen as the black sheep of a theatre industry trying desperately to be taken seriously and viewed as “high art.”
In fact, when Gerard Alessandrini’s parody show “Forbidden Broadway” debuted in 1982, it played at a cosy supper-club theatre on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, as far as you could get from the bright lights of Broadway. Even the title of the revue, which parodied blockbuster hits like “Phantom” and “Les Mis,” suggested a sense of illicitness.
But in the intervening years, the musical parody has proliferated, leaping from the fringes and into the mainstream. “Forbidden Broadway,” arguably the ur-musical parody, eventually became a global hit, earning Alessandrini a special Tony Award in 2006.
More recently, shows like “Titanique” (a parody of James Cameron’s “Titanic,” set to the music of Céline Dion) and “Spamilton” (a riff on Lin-Manuel Miranda’s blockbuster “Hamilton,” also written by Alessandrini) have achieved cultlike status. On Broadway, one of the most anticipated shows opening later this season is “Schmigadoon!,” a stage adaptation of the Apple TV series that sends up the entire genre of musical theatre.
Toronto, too, has witnessed its fair share of theatrical spoofs, from parodies of “The Office” to “Stranger Things.” And in the next weeks, the city’s theatres will host a pair of holiday-themed musical send-ups: “Predictable Holiday Rom-Com: The Musical” at the Second City and “The Unauthorized Hallmark(ish) Parody Musical” at the Royal Theatre.
That this genre of musical comedy is now thriving is a sign not only of changing tastes among mainstream audiences, but also of a theatre industry that has gradually loosened its tie and shed its air of pretentiousness.
“People just kind of want something that’s light, fluffy and safe. Even TV shows that are labelled comedies now are really kind of depressing half the time,” said George Reinblatt, who co-created with Suzy Wilde “Predictable Holiday Rom-Com,” which skewers the tropes of made-for-TV Christmas movies.
Reinblatt, a Canadian playwright and comedy writer, knows his way around the musical send-up. In 2003, he and three other friends from Queen’s University premiered “Evil Dead: The Musical,” based on Sam Raimi’s movie franchise of the same name.
Reinblatt’s “Evil Dead” adaptation, in many ways, was part of a cohort of shows from the mid- to late-aughts that reinvented musical comedy: pushing it to be brasher, and even more irreverent and absurd than before. It was joined by other parodies and parody-adjacent shows like the Tony-winning musical “Avenue Q” (basically “Sesame Street” for vulgar young adults) and the “Harry Potter”-inspired “A Very Potter Musical,” by the company StarKid Productions, co-founded by the American actor Darren Criss.
The genre of musical parody is broad. Parodies, in the strictest sense, typically lampoon a single work, whereas spoofs usually take aim at an entire genre or style by highlighting its most obvious clichés.
While “Predictable Holiday Rom-Com” certainly borrows elements of musical spoofs, it isn’t exactly one in the traditional sense. Unlike most other works of that sub-genre, Reinblatt’s latest musical can stand alone and still be enjoyed by audiences who aren’t familiar with Hallmark-style Christmas flicks, he said. And for those who love (or loathe) that brand of holiday entertainment, there are numerous Easter eggs for them in “Predictable Holiday Rom-Com.”
“I’ve always found it hilarious that these Christmas movies are often considered some of the most wholesome movies there are, yet the plot of a lot of them is that a woman is dating a horrible man, meets a better guy and then just dumps her current boyfriend two days before Christmas,” said Reinblatt. “That’s the least wholesome storyline you can imagine.”
In the show, now running at Second City’s Theatre ’73, there’s a song about halfway through the first act that pokes fun at these ideas. It’s appropriately titled “Should I Cheat?” and sung by the musical’s protagonist, Holly (Tess Barao), who faces an existential crisis when she returns to her hometown for Christmas and must decide whether to cheat on her absent, finance bro-type boyfriend with an affable widower she bumped into (quite literally) several hours earlier.
“We’re pointing out these little things that the audience, and even the fans of the holiday movie genre, perhaps didn’t quite notice before and dialing it up a notch,” said Reinblatt, describing the humour of the show and also the genre of musical spoofs more broadly.
That’s also the approach of Bonnie Milligan, Joel Waggoner and Tim Drucker, the co-writers of “Hallmark(ish),” opening later this month at the Royal Theatre. Similar to Reinblatt’s work, the trio’s parody musical pokes fun at a bevy of made-for-TV holiday specials. “These shows are seeped into our DNA,” joked Milligan, who’s also an actor and is perhaps best known for her Tony-winning performance in the Broadway musical “Kimberly Akimbo.”
That works like “Predictable Holiday Rom-Com” and “Hallmark(ish)” have become so popular is thanks in part to laws in Canada and the U.S. that protect the artists who create these parodies and spoofs. While Reinblatt did receive Raimi’s blessing before adapting the “Evil Dead” franchise into a musical comedy — it’s why he doesn’t consider “Evil Dead: The Musical” to be a traditional, unauthorized parody as most people would consider it — many other comedy writers don’t do the same.
In Canada, however, parodies and spoofs are considered “fair dealing” under the Copyright Act, while they’re also protected as fair use under American laws. “It’s a beautiful law that’s still very strong,” said Drucker, who hails from the U.S. “I’ve done so many spoofs and parodies without speaking to the studios or the owners of the properties I’ve worked on.”
Drucker, however, who’s also directed musical parodies of “Friends” and “Love Actually,” said many IP owners have actually come to embrace these spinoffs, viewing them as brand extensions that help to extend the life of their original works. “As long as it continues brand loyalty and fits within the realm of fan-based exploration, I think they’re happy with it,” he said.
Writers like Drucker and Milligan, and other parodists, know they’re not writing something profound nor even a work of much substance. But what they do hope to provide for their audiences is joy. “With a parody, you’re parodying something that a part of you knows,” said Milligan. “So there’s something comforting in watching that. It’s like going to visit a friend and seeing them in a new way.”
“Predictable Holiday Rom-Com: The Musical” runs until Nov. 16 at Second City’s Theatre ’73, 1 York St. Visit secondcity.com or call 1-800-896-8120 for tickets and more information. “The Unauthorized Hallmark(ish) Parody Musical” runs from Nov. 20 to Jan. 4 at the Royal Theatre, 608 College St. Visit hallmarkish.com for tickets and more information.
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