Stranger Sings! The Parody Musical—When the Object is Just to Have Fun

Dec 23, 2022 by Two Sues On the Aisle

By Sue Weston and Susan Rosenbluth – Two Sues On The Aisle

We go to the theater for many different reasons, but sometimes, it’s okay to admit it’s with no more lofty intention beyond having fun and laughing. If that’s your goal, Stranger Sings!: The Parody Musical, a sci-fi sendup of the Netflix series, could be just your ticket.

Showing for only a few more days at Playhouse 46, located in the basement of St. Luke’s Church on West 46^th Street, Stranger Sings! takes advantage of its intimate space which acts as a cross between someone’s circa-1980s rec room and a Black Box Theater-in-the-round.

With almost no props beyond a Muppet who looks like he escaped from Sesame Street (or Avenue Q) and a mock-up of an old-fashioned ice cream truck, Stranger Sings!, by dint of its score, lyrics, and book (all of them by Jonathan Hogue, a 29-year-old still earning his master’s in theater management at Columbia), assumes the time and attitudes of middle America (Hawkins, Indiana) in the simpler, more naïve, and much more the technology-free year of 1983.

That’s not to say it can’t be just the slightest bit raunchy—it is—but with none of the nudity or anything more offensive than is found these days on television.

Perhaps the most impressive element of the show is its cast, all of them young and so talented, it can either make your heart rest easy for the future of Broadway-style musical theater or break for the kind of competition all of them have to face. One by one, the young people singing and dancing their hearts out in Stranger Sings! are terrific, and passing an afternoon or evening with them will make you feel lighter and glad you took a few hours to spend with them.

At the performance we attended, special attention should be given to the actress/singer who calls herself SLee. Born Savannah-Lee Mumford, she played the part of Barb Holland, a shlumpy best friend kind of teenager whose star emerges to shine brightly—all with the help of a set of lungs that didn’t need amplification.

For more information or tickets, visit the show’s website at https://www.strangersingsthemusical.com/

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Two Sues on the Aisle bases its ratings on how many challahs (1-5) it pays to buy (rather than make) in order to see the play, show, film, or exhibit being reviewed.

Stranger Sings! The Parody Musical received four challahs.