Spamilton: An American Parody
Opening Night: September 8, 2016
Closing: October 30, 2016
Theater: The Triad Theater
From Gerard Alessandrini, the mastermind behind the legendary Forbidden Broadway, comes a hilarious new musical that roasts, eviscerates, and celebrates Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton. Share in the Spamilton madness at the Triad, through November 30. Starring a young virtuoso cast, with special Guest Divas: Christine Pedi, and many more!
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September 8, 2016
You’re over Hamilton: We get it. After hysterical reviews, obscene ticket prices and all the awards ever, enough is enough. The media coverage has grown so predictable, the hype is so pervasive, it feels like you’ve seen it already, right? Time for Spamilton. The latest takedown by Forbidden Broadway master parodist Gerard Alessandrini is satirical tough love: it bites because it cares. Alessandrini’s respect for Lin-Manuel Miranda’s musical-theater genius is obvious. But so is his fear that that talent will be perverted by fame and pulped in the Broadway meat grinder. If you caught any editions of Forbidden Broadway over the years, you know the score: Alessandrini swipes melodies from current shows and twists the lyrics to stick it to the source. “I am not gonna let Broadway rot,” vows a rapping Lin-Manuel-as-Hamilton (Dan Rosales, nailing LMM’s nasal whine). “Hey, yo! I’m just like a beaver / A young overachiever / And I love being a hot, big shot.” Unlike the hit-and-run revue style he usually favors, Alessandrini sustains an episodic narrative, showing how the mega-success of Hamilton lures its main creator away from the Great White Way and into vapid, pop-culture distractions (Beyoncé, Jennifer Lopez and Gloria Estefan all tempt Miranda to the tune of “Say No to This”). Amid the many Hamilton song spoofs there are strategic quotations from Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd and Assassins, as well as samples from Annie, West Side Story and a dozen other classics. Christine Pedi makes a couple of pungent cameos, including Liza Minnelli crooning “Down with Rap” (after “Down with Love”). Playing the fey and deranged King George III, Glenn Bassett gets some of the best kicks in, skewering Hamilton’s defensively hetero vibe (“Straight is Back”).
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September 8, 2016
Though the juggernaut musical “Hamilton” is bursting with facts and figures from the American Revolution, there’s a whole other, less obvious history that underlies its every performance. No, I am not hinting at the existence of coded conspiracy messages involving the Illuminati. (But apparently, if you play the song “The Reynolds Pamphlet” backward. …) What I’m talking about is a war that has been waged tirelessly for more than a century: the fight to be perceived as the sole musical left standing tall in the battlefield called Broadway. And if you hope to understand the role of “Hamilton” within this epic struggle, you are earnestly advised to attend the (highly) animated dissertation on the subject, titled “Spamilton,” which opened on Thursday night at the Triad.
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