By TERESA FITZGIBBONS
Special to the Guide
Not too many musicals are deserving of two exclamation points in their titles, but “Gutenberg! The Musical!” has proved that even a musical about the life of the inventor of the printing press can be hilarious.
“The writers of this show are spoofing the big spectacle musicals and the long process involved in getting one produced,” said director Peggy Trecker.
Indeed, this parody of Broadway musicals is a play-within-a-play under the guise of a production backers’ audition. Bud and Doug, two wannabe writers with an innocent belief in the power of Broadway dreams, act out their over-the-top show about Johann Gutenberg, the inventor of the printing press. The scant historical data on his life allows the two to fill in the gaps with familiar spectacle musical ingredients with riotous results.
“Anyone who loves musicals gets kind of a backstage pass to see how they’re created,” said Matt Mundy, who plays Doug in the SCRC production. “The show references Broadway clichés old and new. You don’t need to know anything about theater to enjoy the show, but Broadway fans may get an extra snicker or two. The humor is intergenerational with jokes designed to appeal to different demographics.”
Bud and Doug play all 30 roles by donning dozens of identical hats with the characters’ names written on them.
While the hats are a funny bit, the actors each must undergo transformations as they move from role to role. As such, the show offers theatergoers a chance to see a character break up a fight he’s in and portray an 11-member chorus line in four-part harmony with only one voice and two legs.
“Gutenberg! The Musical!” premiered off-Broadway in 2006. The two writers, Scott Brown and Andrew King, first workshopped the show at the Upright Citizens’ Brigade, a breeding ground for Saturday Night Live cast members and other sketch comics.
It ran for six months at the Actors’ Playhouse and has been produced both nationally and overseas for the last two years. The show earned several award nominations in 2007, including Outstanding New Off-Broadway Musical from the Outer Critics’ Circle and the Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Musical. The writers were honored with a Drama Desk Award for Best Book of a Musical.
“It’s a new show that is just starting to hit the regional circuit,” said producer Blake White. “We pride ourselves on finding material that no one else in a 200-mile radius is going to do.”