Brothers Carson and Tyler Wright wear many hats in “Gutenberg! The Musical!”
Literally.
The twosome rapidly switch blue-and-white baseball caps with names of about 25 characters handwritten with black marker in this two-man spoof of musical theater, which opened Aug. 10 in the Catalina Foothills High School Little Theater.
The premise of the play-within-a-play is aspiring playwrights have written the story, music and lyrics for a bouncy, over-the-top musical loosely — very loosely — based on Johannes Gutenberg’s 1438 invention of the movable-type printing press. About the only fact in the play is that Gutenberg did invent the printing press.
Writing duo Bud (Carson Wright) and Doug (Tyler Wright), accompanied by Charles the pianist (Khris Dodge), sing all the songs and perform all the parts in the anachronistic, historical fiction — emphasis on fiction — adaptation of Gutenberg’s life to an audience with producers in attendance. The two hope to land a contract for a big-time Broadway production of the show.
The boisterous show pokes fun at and pays homage to musical theater clichés, like the need to tackle a serious issue to make the show important, perky opening numbers, a kicky rock song to close the first act, and the “charm song” performed not to advance the story but to endear the audience. There are silly movie references and chuckle-worthy exposition and explanations of theater and literary terms, like “metaphor” and “foreshadowing.”
The show is set in the medieval German town of Schlimmer, which translated in English means “worse.” Gutenberg is a wine presser (he was actually a metalsmith) who wants to pull the townsfolk out of their malaise caused by not being able to read. Gutenberg’s grape-pressing assistant is buxom blonde Helvetica, who is in love with her boss. (Bet you saw that one coming.)
The Wright brothers portray Doug and Bud and the array of offbeat Schlimmer characters with rambunctious energy, multiple accents and voices, dancing, prancing and goofy physicality that evokes giggles and guffaws.
Dodge, who often laughed at the actors’ antics, and his finger-snapping, versatile keyboard is precisely timed with the brothers and elevates the show. Dodge seemed to play with a twinkle in his eye and was aided by his middle school-aged son, page-turner Harrison Dodge, who was spotted frequently tapping his toe to the cheery, upbeat tunes and silly lyrics.
“Gutenberg! The Musical!” is a laugh-out-loud, well-performed piece that basks in the love of theater and performance.
