Review: MCUsical The Unofficial Marvel Parody Musical

Parody has long been a staple of the theatrical landscape, from The Reduced Shakespeare Company and The 39 Steps to The Play That Goes Wrong and Forbidden Broadway, and in recent years the incredible global reach of mega-film franchises like Harry Potter and Star Wars have made for enticing targets. The Just Us League have lighted on The Marvel Universe for their inspiration, and revel in their nerdy knowledge of the intricacies of that world. There's a great song (itself an Avenue Q parody, more on that later), which highlights the interesting and complex copyright issues such a project entails, with Thor being perhaps the only character they can use without risk of being sued.

MCUsical: The Unofficial Marvel Parody Musical is as such not an original idea, but is definitely a professionally executed one. The show is in development and was streamed on Youtube, presented as a staged reading with 6 actors in a row standing before microphones dressed in theatrical black. For those of us familiar with such readings the jokes still shone through thanks to the energy, confidence and timing of the cast. For others, the reading in of stage directions, the actors holding the scripts and the lack of a present audience to mark jokes with laughter will have made it a challenge to watch. I applaud the cast for keeping the jovial atmosphere rolling from start to finish. In the wake of the pandemic, sometimes needs must.

Rather than writing original songs, the writing team have re-written the lyrics to popular musical theatre numbers to suit their show. This is a clever idea because it adds a whole extra level of humour. The 'Avengies' become the High School Musical kids, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang becomes Itty Bitty Ant Man, and even Mary Poppins gets a shoe (or should that be umbrella) in. This show parodies musicals as much as the Marvel Universe, if not more so. While the Marvel references are mostly encyclopaedic, the choice of musical theatre tunes is sharp and satirical, placing familiar tunes in unfamiliar but cleverly paralleled contexts. But you need to know the musicals to get the jokes.

For those lacking a detailed knowledge of the films and musicals referenced, the giggles are few and far between. But for fans, this parody musical is filled with humorous story summaries, witty character impersonations, silly subversions and even puppets. It's a funny, fast-moving comedy show with a cast you immediately root for. Today's show was rightly sold out but they're on again on Sunday: catch them if you can!