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The Banger's Flopera - A Musical Perversion "Sex, Thugs, and Rock-n-Roll" Download Text | Reviews | Photos | Critical Preface to Published Text The Banger's Flopera will be appearing in The New York Musical Theater Festival! Sep 13th 8:00 PM, Sep 16th 9:00 PM The Barrow Group Theater 312 West 36th Street "Banger's is the quintessential counter-culture acid rock and rap musical that is filled with brilliant word play, flaunts metaphors about the stage, and shocks its audience to the point of numbness with an assertive style in performance across the board that would render Max Bialystock of Broadway's The Producers or even Brecht and Weill's own version of MacHeath as wimps by comparison." - CurtainUp.com "Fiercely political...shattering and unsettling...a celebration of excess...a post-apocalyptic anti-drug theme park filled with animatronics." - talkinbroadway.com "Great talent! Topnotch! Real flashes of brilliance!" - The New York Sun PICK OF THE WEEK! - "Offensive. Appalling. Dirty. Vulgar. Inappropriate. Obscene. Brilliant. It is not to be missed." - offoffonline.com "...surely one of the most overtly raunchy, in-your-face-assailing shows ever put up at FringeNYC." - nytheatre.com "An uncommonly talented cast" - Time Out NY "The band rocks the house." - hyreviews.com
Click link for photos: Fuck God / Finger Fucker / Mac the Knife / What's In Your Head? Eat Me, Macky! / Banger's Flopera! / Peekaboo Polly All photos taken by Jason Covert - www.carnivoreonline.com - and feature Joe Pindelski as Mac the Knife and April Vidal as Polly Peacock HEAR SONGS FROM THE SHOW! Macky's Song / Fuck God / Ironic Underwear / We Are Sad Books/Lyrics by Kirk Wood
Bromley The Banger’s Flopera – A Musical Perversion is a “perversion” of that infamous tale of high-class lowlifes, The Beggar’s Opera. While Beggar’s took place in 17th century London, Banger’s takes place in 21st century New York City. While Beggar’s begins with Mr. Peachum exploiting his hoard of street beggars, Banger’s begins with Mr. Peacock exploiting his band of street singers. While Beggar’s depicts the seedy goings-on of Mac the Knife, the King of Thieves, Banger’s gives us Mac the Knife as the King of Thugs. And while the underworld of Beggar’s is composed of pickpockets, whores, and crooked cops, the underworld of Banger’s is composed of gangstaz, porn stars, and, well, crooked cops (some things haven’t changed). The action of Banger’s largely mirrors the action of Beggar’s. Mr. and Mrs. Peacock discover that their daughter, Polly, has been stolen by Mac the Knife; they set out to get her back by any means necessary; Mac is inevitably captured due to his inability to stay away from the thrills of crime and sex; finally, after Mac is sentenced to death, he is saved in the end by a deus ex machina that maintains the rotten order of things. Throughout this plot there is also ample borrowing from the original “perversion” of The Beggar’s Opera, Brecht and Weill’s ThreePenny Opera. The Banger’s Flopera is a musical for a world in which liars win elections, John Gotti is a sex symbol, and www.exploitedteens.com gets 1 million hits/day. In other words, it is a musical for a world as corrupt, as cruel, and as captivating as the one that gave birth to The Beggar’s Opera. That said, Banger’s is as socially critical as it is socially enchanted, as irreverent as it is indignant, and as theatrical as it is political. So, yes, Banger’s is biting, but it’s also a lot of fun. This production of The Banger’s Flopera – A Musical Perversion will feature 18 songs performed by a band of four (piano, guitar, bass, and drums) and 15 singers. The score ranges in style from rock, rap, and heavy trip to torch song, vaudeville, and love ballad. And the same design team that helped Inverse create its award winning show, Lost – The Musical, will be back for this production. The quintessentially mind-spinning script adds a new dimension to the musical genre as the dialogue, being in verse, possesses a certain musicality in itself. Inverse believes that this “next generation musical,” replete with present-day references, icons, themes, and artistic forms, will be enjoyed as much by those who savor modern musicals as by those who savor modern music, as much by the theater goer as the TV watcher, and as much by the culture critic as the culture consumer. In short, Banger’s is a “popular” musical as much as it is a “political” stampede. |
