Saturday Night At The Follies - Mr. Burns, A Post-Electric Play at Stage West

Last night we went to Stage West Theatre to see Mr. Burns, a post-electric play by Anne Washburn.  I'll start by saying the show was terrific.  A great and talented cast, interesting concept and fun staging makes this a must-do.

Stage West, Fort Worth

Program

The show is a meditation on the practice of storytelling, verbal history and oral tradition.  It tells the story of a group of survivors shortly after a nuclear apocalypse who are collectively trying to remember and tell each other about a single episode of The Simpsons tv show.

The "Cape Feare" episode they're piecing together revolved around yet another attempt by the nefarious Sideshow Bob to put an end to his young nemesis Bart Simpson, and was a parody/homage to the movie(s) Cape Fear.  If you've never seen it, it plays on a television in the theater lobby before the show and during intermission.

Curtain and proscenium arch

The first act shows the desire to interact, entertain, remember and preserve when all else is gone.  It juxtaposes the humor in recounting against the reality of the need to survive in a now potentially hostile world.

Photo by Buddy Myers.  From theaterjones.com.

The second act is set 7 years later where the need to survive is no less dire, but where some small order has returned to the world.  Now there are competing bands of survivors putting on live Simpons re-enactments (complete with commercials), and bartering for better lines and episodes to perform.  This is the state of entertainment:  the strong companies survive, the weaker ones sell off their best material piecemeal until they have nothing left.  No audience = no chance.

Intermission follows the 2nd act, after which the third act propels the audience 75 more years into the future where the "Cape Feare" story has now morphed into a Greek drama, complete with chorus.  Entirely sung (and very well), it's the grand opera version of the Simpsons, with regal bearing, evil Itchy and Scratchy henchmen, and a fantastically over-the-top Mr. Burns/Sideshow Bob amalgam.  Oh, and a machete fight.

Bart, Homer, Lisa, Marge and Maggie.  This is what happens after 82 years of the telephone game.
Photo by Buddy Myers.  From artandseek.net.

All of this still vaguely recalls the story of the original cartoon episode - there was an Itchy and Scratchy cartoon in the episode, hence their appearance now as henchmen.  Bart stalls Sideshow Bob in the original by asking him to perform the entire score of the Gilbert & Sullivan operetta H.M.S. Pinafore, which Bob can't resist - now the entire story has become opera-like with all the gravitas one would expect from an opera.  In the original, Sideshow Bob attacks Bart with a machete, so now...well I guess that one's still the same, although now it's dueling machetes.

Although there is singing and a very excellent greatest-hits musical mashup, I would call this a play with music, not a musical.

Mr. Burns runs through September 13th.  I highly recommend catching a show before it's gone.

Bonus:  This apt and awesome poster from another production.
Image from beguilingbooksandart.com.

Of course since we were in the neighborhood we had to stop at Ol' South Pancake House after the show for coffee and a nosh.

Now that's a "Big Ol' Burrito