DPAC Shows
Shucked
March 4 – March 9
This is the next show Erin and I are watching, at my insistence. We have both admitted to each other that we don’t know what the show is about, we just know corn plays a role. I’ve gathered it’s set in Cob County, a town that revolves around the crop. The drama and comedy, as far as we can expect any, may revolve around Maizy and Beau, “a couple who are planning their wedding.” We’ll be watching this one for my birthday.
Beetlejuice
March 18 – March 23
We will be seeing Beetlejuice for the second time, remembering it as a fun show that expands on the gaps in the movie’s world building. The stagecraft was also a big deal, with inventive ways of displaying hauntings and the netherworld (how do they pronounce it? Neither-World?) that is specific to Beetlejuice lore.
The Book of Mormon
April 8 – April 13
Yeah, I don’t like this one very much. We saw it a couple seasons ago and I don’t need to see it again.
The Book of Mormon, Trey Parker and Matt Stone’s 2011 musical, has persisted through the Great Woke Wars of the 2010’s, I think because the uninitiated just assume it targets Mormons the way that famous South Park episode did. But a lot of the core humor centers around depictions of an African village. Now we can get into whether this has some resonance as a skewering of the way sheltered Americans view Africa, but you and I both know that when a black actor is hired to sing about having AIDS in a supposed Ugandan accent that this humor is designed to be laughed at by an audience that questions the necessity of Brown v. Board of Education. It’s just dated as hell and I’m frankly surprised to see it keep popping up.
Kimberly Akimbo
April 29 – May 4
For the rest of this season, this one is the most tempting. Kimberly Akimbo is based on a 2001 play written by David Lindsay-Abaire. a screenwriter involved in a lot of family movies, Robots, Inkheart, Rise of the Guardians, and, uh…..Oz the Great and Powerful. The story of the Tony award winning musical features a teenage character who has a condition causing her to look like an elderly woman.
Back to the Future
May 20 – May 25
I love the film Back to the Future and consider it as an all-time great adventure comedy. But I have next to no interest in seeing the musical. Perhaps it’s great. It could be just as good as Beetlejuice in mining the depths of its IP, but the first movie already seemed like a pretty complete experience and it had two weird sequels to boot, so I’m just not curious to see what emotional heights can be reached with a musical number about Marty McFly’s musings on time and youth. I’m good.
Some Like it Hot
June 17 – June 22
I only recently saw the original movie, because we tend to watch classic movies with Erin’s grandfather in Rehoboth. More so than Back to the Future, this could be a pretty interesting update on a Billy Wilder movie that was already surprisingly open-minded for the time period. We will be T-minus three weeks for second baby’s due date, though, so our likelihood of catching this one is low.
Les Misérables
July 15 – July 20
My favorite musical of all time due to its nostalgic honor of being the first one I saw on stage, Les Mis will not be one we see again since we saw it shortly before the birth of our first kid in 2023 and also we’ll have a newborn in the house. That said, I urge anyone who hasn’t had the opportunity to run for the show. Particularly as we’re dealing with a moment of what seems like the obliteration of many people’s hopes for society, you need some music that rouses you to action and guides you to acceptance.
The Wiz
August 5 – August 10
We saw The Wiz a while ago in a Ford’s Theater production. This is the tour of the 2024 revival with some potential updates to the original 1970’s book. I’m steeped in Oz lore, but have yet to really internalize The Wiz‘s accomplishments. The point is moot for me as I will be in spit-up and gassy-baby mode.
DPAC Tickets Here.
