Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: The place to be on opening night of "Spank! The Fifty Shades Parody" was the Byham Theater balcony. We downstairs could only guess at what they were chanting even before the, um, action started onstage, and the roars from upstairs kept on coming.
3 comments:
Although i havent read the book 50 shades series, i have no doubt that this musical does a witty if not brilliant job of playing of some of the books stronger themes. I find musical that derive their humor from elements of the real world that we all know to be very enjoyable from noises off to forbidden broadway, musical parodies have their own special place in theater.
This seems like a great show, and I'm really sad that I missed it. I would have loved to see how they managed to connect it all together while not actually fully referencing the books. Believe it or not, the 50 Shades series isn't as raunchy as everyone works it up to be. It is actually quite mild compared to some of the stuff out there in the way of romance novels.
Parody shows are a great thing in the theater world because they make the audience just uncomfortable enough to make it funny. Spamalot is a classic example of this. The audience doesn't quite know how to react to the show, but they still enjoy themselves. Spank! probably gave much the same impression but of course more sexually played out.
I haven't read the books, but I think this would be the type of show I would love. I am a theater person who appreciates the thought provoking theater, but I would much rather go to a funny, feel good show that makes me laugh. I get the feeling that this show does exactly that. The Fifty Shades of Gray Series has made a big hit in the pop culture of the US and I think that a show like this would do extremely well in today's society. Yes, this is not going to be a show that makes it to Broadway, but I think that it will do well in community theaters around the country and provide a fun night out for a lot of people.
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