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Alleyway Theatre is closing out their 2023-2023 season in a big way…. Known for new works in Buffalo, Alleyway Theatre is producing the regional premiere of Kragtar! The American Monster Musical.
This hilariously campy and zany musical adventure was written by Kyle Wilson (music, lyrics, and co-book) and Sam French (co-book), Wilson and French met in college in the aughts, and started working together.
“We felt like an immediate kinship as friends, because we sort of had the same interests, whether it was theater, movies or just, you know, the fact that both of us only ate chicken fingers at the age of 18,” joked French.
“We’ve both grown so much, but the first thing we wrote together was… called The Beatles present the Lord of the Rings, The Musical, which was based on this sort of true story. A true slice of life thing that nobody really talks about, which is that apparently The Beatles were going to make a movie of The Lord of the Rings in the 60s.”
This initial collaboration led to more original musicals and the recipe for success found in their first piece was built upon for their next original work: Kragtar: The American Monster Musical, which combines camp and comedy with actual real life events to create musical theater comedy gold.
“Either like late 2013 or early 2014, the government shut down and we were like, what if a monster was attacking America and they still wouldn’t stop the shut down? What if the government wasn’t doing anything? And that was the sort of political satire behind [the show}. And every time we do [Kragtar], I think the political satire sort of inherently changes.”
The plot of the musical from the Alleyway website is as follows:
An ancient prophecy is coming true just in time for another government shutdown as a Godzilla-esque monster appears, leaving America in its wake of blood, tears, and trampled Chick-Fil-As. Scientists and former lovers Harry and Harvey must reunite to save the country—and maybe rekindle their love, too—as they face the dreaded Kragtar in battle. Unbeknownst to our heroes, however, there may be a far greater monster lurking in the shadows, ready to swallow America whole.
When asked about the epic ambitions of a monster musical in Buffalo, French said, “Musicals aren’t crazy enough. It’s a form that really encourages you to imagine the biggest version of everything. [Kragtar] a show about love, in a time when the country’s going through a bad time, and I think that’s something we need or we need more art about.”
Both French and Wilson hope that Kragtar! The American Monster Musical will resonate with Buffalo Audiences.
“An ideal response from the people of Buffalo would be like ‘we haven’t seen anything like that show in a very long time here. It felt really good to laugh that hard” said French.
“I think and hope that it would be the type of show that people would just go and have a really good time at, and then want to tell their friends or take their friends to go see it, or their family members, or whoever” Wilson continued. And I hope that it’s surprising to people. I think people will be surprised by it…how funny it is, and surprised by how much heart there is in it.”
Kragtar! The American Monster Musical
Alleyway Theatre | 1 Curtain Up Alley
April 21 – May 20
7:30 evening, 3:30 Matinee
$30-$42