The Big Bang Theory: A Pop-Rock Musical Parody opened Off-Broadway last weekend, and we went to check it out.
This writer is a huge fan of The Big Bang Theory, and in light of its looming finale, we thought the musical would be a fun way to spend some more time with the characters. Every successful TV show these days has a parody musical, and they can generally be a good time if one doesn’t expect a Tony-winning spectacular.
The plot of the musical is simple: Star Trek’s Q demands all the characters show growth to prove humanity can better themselves, which is really an excuse to poke fun at the characters’ foibles. Far too many of these storylines involve pleasuring oneself with robot arms, but oh well. For the male characters, the musical covers unimaginative but acceptable ground: Raj is gay, Leonard has issues of self-worth, etc. It’s not particularly insightful, but is amusing enough.
‘The Big Bang Theory: Musical Parody’ review
But the show’s fatal flaw is its treatment of the female characters – Penny, Bernadette, and Amy. One could call out The Big Bang Theory for issues of not representing female geeks, and that’s totally fair. But no one would argue that the female characters they do have are not fully fleshed out characters – like them or not, they’re developed just as well as the boys.
In the musical, not so: all the girls are reduced to shrill shrews that torment the boys and interfere with all their fun. Yes, it’s parody, but what exactly is the point of parodying women to make them completely one-dimensional and abhorrent to the audience? Even given the geeks’ lack of romantic options, it’s impossible to imagine that anyone would tolerate being around these women, let alone would marry them. When one of the girls turns out to be a robot, it’s not surprising or amusing, just the logical extension of the musical’s characterization.
During intermission, I was discussing this with my friend, as both of us were appalled by the characterization of the women. My friend asked a very astute question: who wrote the musical? We checked – it was all written by one guy, Karlan Judd. That explains this misogynistic mess of a musical – a single male author with no one keeping him in check could make the women completely unrecognizable, while managing to adequately parody the boys. It’s a sad state of affairs for a show premiering in 2019.
In fact, most of the show’s ills can be blamed squarely on the writing. The music is forgettable at best, the story structure is disjointed, and the “sex scene” at the end is just uncomfortable. There are odd interludes, like a song from all the characters’ mothers that takes a digression into institutional racism in Hollywood. Maybe Judd thought that was enough for this show to be considered woke; it’s really not.
The cast, mostly newcomers to Off-Broadway, do what they can with what they’ve got. The standout performer, and far and away the best part of the show, is John McGowan as Sheldon. McGowan perfectly captures Sheldon’s mannerisms, his way of speaking, and even his laugh. Watching him, you almost forget that you’re watching an over-the-top parody, and begin to think of him as really Sheldon. It all makes you wish that McGowan’s Sheldon was in a better Big Bang Theory show than the one he’s in.
It’s also a shame that Sheldon does not interact much with the other characters in the show (an odd storytelling choice for a TBBT parody), because Sheldon’s relationships with the other characters seem ripe for parody. In general, there’s so much rich material in Big Bang Theory’s twelve seasons that could be parodied, and the cleverest jokes this musical can muster is that Season 8 was bad and Penny’s short hair was bad.
If this seems like piling on for a show, it’s because The Big Bang Theory Musical Parody is the epitome of laziness – a parody with nothing to say except that women are terrible. The brand name will be enough to get some people in the door (though not many, judging by the performance we attended). Those people may even mildly enjoy it if they turn their brains off and are easily amused by raunchy humor. But ultimately, we can’t recommend seeking out this musical to watch, when you can turn on the TV at any time of day or night and just watch reruns of the show. You’ll laugh much harder at the original than at the satire.
If you’re still not dissuaded, you can find out more about the show at its website. It runs at The Theatre Center through May 26.
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