Show: 3
Title: GUNS! the Musical
Category: Comedy / Drama / Musical Theater / Original Music / Physical Theater / Puppetry / LGBTQIA+ Content / Political content / Religious content
By: Kalal Productions
Created by: Bryce Kalal
Location: Theatre in the Round
Summary: A musical satire about a gun-loving town in "The States of 'Merica" that reacts to an epidemic of people being shot in the knees by banning knees and other bending parts.
Highlights: This spoof of American gun culture is a laugh a minute. It's so silly and ridiculous and fun, chock full of bad puns and finger guns and "pew-pew" sound effects. It doesn't hit you over the head with politics, but it's not too hard to draw current parallels with this town that solves all their problems with guns, and billionaires control politicians (the modern remake of Schoolhouse Rock's "How a Bill Becomes a Law" is sadly hilarious). The entire cast (Aura Bafna, Erin Clarkin, Terra Eberle, Krista Hauseman, Maycee Klein, Emma Johnson, Justin Johnson, Phillip Schramm, Sandesh Sukhram, and Glen L. Dawson in what feels like a continuation of his Detective character from the Buttslasher franchise, and that's a good thing) leans fully into the campy sincerity of the show. There are several songs in the show that continue the tone and theme of the story, accompanied by a three-piece on-stage band. They make good use of the in-the-round space, even poking fun at it with calls for "stage... north?" There are some clever props, puppets, and costumes, but not a single gun.
