MANSFIELD – Some of the area’s most talented actors portray “the worst you’ve ever met” in the premiere of “Hot Mess: A Lethal New Musical” at the Renaissance Theatre.
The show was penned by Renaissance artistic director Michael Thomas, and puts some of the most infamous figures in pop culture under the microscope.
“There is something to be said for why people watch reality television,” Thomas said. “Why do people want to watch a train wreck?”
A cast of six local actors portray more than 20 characters throughout the show that are obvious nods to popular reality TV stars, including Honey Boo Boo, Snooki, Duck Dynasty, Real Housewives, the Duggars and many more. Audience members will get up-close-and-personal with these characters in the Renaissance’s “stage-on-stage” setting. The audience is seated on the stage with the actors and the set.
The idea of “Hot Mess” came to Thomas last year, when the Renaissance was looking for a small-cast musical to fill its winter show spot. He put pen to paper after Christmas, aiming to create a spoof of reality television with a storyline that had heart.
“I was reading about the Greek tragedy Medea – not the Tyler Perry Madea – which is the story of a woman with very humble beginnings who works her way up, becomes famous and gets a rich husband, and when he walks out on her she goes crazy and takes revenge,” Thomas said. “And that’s our exact story.”
That woman is Divinia Chontrell, played by Renaissance veteran Maddie Beer. Divinia’s journey of picking herself up after her inevitable downfall mirrors the plight of most celebrities, Beer said.
“This show points a finger at society, and I think everyone can relate to the fact that we all follow these celebrities shamelessly even though they’re despicable human beings,” Beer said. “We’re not really sure why some of these people are famous, but yet we still follow them.”
Working on a script that is totally a Thomas production has been “an amazing challenge,” Beer remarked.
“You have no frame of reference; usually when you do a show you’ll listen to the soundtrack or watch videos of how other people have performed it,” she said. “This time you don’t have that in the back of your mind, it’s just me singing it and I can do whatever I want to do with it. That’s pretty awesome – intimidating, but very awesome.”
The challenge was extended from Thomas to Beer and her castmates: Leah Gesouras, Colton Penwell, Harmoni Sauder, Ryan Shreve and Condrea Webber, with the understanding of trust between director and actor. Thomas has a colorful background. He’s written for the popular Netflix series “The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” and NBC’s “30 Rock.” With this piece, he introduced a new style of writing to the cast.
“It’s totally different from how we’ve ever done it,” Thomas said. “I’d give them the first 13 pages of the first act and they’d say wait, how does this end? But that’s the way new stuff is, if something doesn’t work you pull it out and try something different. Luckily, they’ve been very supportive.”
The perk of an ongoing character workshop is the actors’ input with their own characters. Actor Ryan Shreve, who plays both an Old Order Amish man and a boy band singer in the show, said the process has been incredibly fun.
“You get to really create your own character, and we’ve been so lucky working with Michael because we’ve all had a say in who our characters become and what we can add to the story,” Shreve said. “It’s been kind of a group production.”
Most character research involved watching the referenced reality shows. For actor Harmoni Sauder, that meant modeling her characters from Snooki and Honey Boo Boo.
“I think it’s awesome, you have a lot more freedom to play around with your character because it’s not something you’ve seen someone else do,” she said. “And there’s all the research of a real person; it’s not just a made-up character, she’s real and I can watch her.”
Of course, a show poking fun at raunchy reality show stars also comes with its own style of raunchy comedy. Thomas cautioned that this production would be R-rated for reasons like excessive use of the f-word, but the themes are no different than what one would see on Family Guy, South Park or Saturday Night Live.
“Michael pushes the envelope, but he does it in the right way,” Shreve said. “He’s not doing it just to do it, there’s a reason behind it and there’s meaning behind the whole show. It’s a play off of society’s narcissism, and it’s really cool how Michael went about doing it.”
However, the show’s opening weekend is met with a bit of nervousness from some actors.
“I’m more excited than anything, but it is scary because the material is so raw,” Sauder said. “But that’s who these people really are. We’re not making this stuff up.”
It turns out, worries aren’t needed: Due to popular demand and multiple sold-out performances before the show opened, the Renaissance has already announced an additional performance of “Hot Mess.”
For his part, Thomas is looking forward to his vision brought to life.
“The actors’ interpretations make me laugh so hard, some of the stuff they’re doing is absolutely side-splitting,” he said. “And it is entertaining, but we try to have a little bit of heart to it. Our message is: yes, these people may be making the shows, but you folks are the ones watching them.”
“Hot Mess: A Lethal New Musical” will be presented on Feb. 26 and 27, and March 3, 4 and 5 at 8 p.m. at the Renaissance Theatre. The show will run approximately 90 minutes and contains adult subject matter and humor. Tickets are $30 each and are on sale now at the Renaissance Box Office by calling 419-522-2726, and visiting MansfieldTickets.com.
