The show opens at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 23. Following performances are at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 24 and Oct. 27-30. The final two performances are at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Oct. 31, all of which are in the Wells-Metz Theatre.
“Mr. Burns,” a play written by Anne Washburn that premiered in 2012, tells the story of a small group of survivors of an apocalypse who use the recollection and reenacting episodes of “The Simpsons” as a mode of coping with the tragedy that has befallen the world.
Though the production is classified as a play, the entire third act is a musical.
“It’s wonderful for our students because they get to do the first two acts, which are basically straight acting, and then they get to do some musical theater as well,” said Jonathan Michaelsen, director and chair of the theater department.
Ray Fellman, a musical theater professor at IU, is the music director of the production. Fellman said between him and Dan Lodge-Rigal, a local musician, they play toy piano, accordion, guitar, bass drum, snare drum, chimes, a thunder sheet, the glockenspiel, a ratchet and a waterphone, which is filled with water and played with a violin bow to make a mysterious sound during the show.
“The second act has these medleys of popular music in it, so you get these excerpts of Britney Spears or Beyoncé,” Fellman said. “The third act takes place 75 years later, and the composer has incorporated many of the musical phrases and ideas from the second act into a style of music that is 75 years in the future. The way that the composer has envisioned the transformation of music is fascinating.”
The final act is a chaos of sound and visuals with Fellman and Lodge-Rigal providing a dramatic backdrop for the darkly futuristic singing and dancing versions of “The Simpsons” characters.
“The third act really feels like a fan fiction,” actor Jason Craig West said. “It’s like someone took the characters and put their own complete spin on it. It’s ‘The Simpsons’ in a way the audience has never seen before.”
During a dress rehearsal Tuesday evening, Homer wore football pads and an aviator hat, Marge was in her towering blue hat made of translucent bubbles and Lisa and Bart’s hair was made of melted plastic forks and spoons.
“It’s a really interesting, crazy, fascinating piece of art,” Fellman said.
When Mr. Burns finally makes his appearance, complete with acid wash skinny jeans and combat boots, the climactic scene starts. All of these elements make the play somewhat comedic, but it still retains its integrity as a serious work, West said.
“I’ve never seen another script like this, and I’ve been acting for more than 10 years,” West said. “It’s not a show about ‘The Simpsons,’ it’s a show about these individuals and the journey that they go on. It’s an incredible story of the human spirit and how ‘The Simpsons’ merges itself into that in its own very unique way.”
