When You’re Good to Jabba…
Posted By Ardellis on November 19, 2005
I passed up the opening of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire last night for an evening with the MIT Musical Theatre Guild and their wonderful, hysterically funny Star Wars Trilogy: Musical Edition. Our friend Jax is the producer and her husband, Jamez, plays Darth Vader. When we left the MIT campus at the end of the show, my face hurt from so much laughing and smiling. I stomped my feet in sheer glee at least half a dozen times.
The show is in 3 acts, one for each of the movies of the original film trilogy, and the musical numbers are lifted from everything from Chicago to Phantom of the Opera to A Nightmare Before Christmas (with rewritten lyrics, of course). My personal favorite is the duet sung by Darth Vader and the Emperor in the third act (officially Act 6 in the program, of course) in which, to music from Jesus Christ Superstar, they sing “For the sake of the Empire, he’ll join us or die.” Very tongue in cheek. Very campy. Very very fun.
The storm troopers tap dance. I kid you not.
And just about everyone who’s anyone in sci-fi gets a mention (and sometimes a cameo) somewhere in the show. The droids that the Jawas have for sale include a couple of well-known cartoon characters and everyone’s favorite Star Fleet android. The cantina scene is full to the brim with notables (including one gentleman in a very long scarf and another in an ugly knit hat with ear flaps). They even throw in a few in-jokes for fantasy fans.
There are a handful of shows left, if you’re anywhere near Cambridge, Massachusetts, this weekend. I can’t promise they aren’t sold out, but it might be worth a try.
Oh!! That sounds amazing! I’m sooooooooo jealous! I’m glad you had such a good time, though.
It was great fun. The show was 3 1/2 hours long (including 2 10-minute intermissions) but it just zoomed by in a cloud of mirth.