The talented team who spoofed Bridesmaids, Clueless, Jurassic Park, Hocus Pocus, and Home Alone to hilarious effect take satirical aim at Stranger Things, the latest of their Unauthorized Musical Parody series at Rockwell Table + Stage and one of UMPO’s best.

 You don’t have to have seen the hit Netflix series to find yourself singing (or lip-syncing) along to hit songs like Blondie’s “Call Me,” Donna Summer’s “She Works Hard For The Money,” Michael Sembello’s “Maniac,” Irene Cara’s “Flashdance,” and Radiohead’s “Creep” performed by some of the most gifted triple-threats in town, but to get the most of writer Kate Pazakis’s hilarious collection of in-jokes, here’s a primer for those who’ve missed out on the Steven Spielberg/John Carpenter/Stephen King-inspired horror drama, or at least the first season that gets UMPOed here.

 Meet sweet, sensitive Mike (Damon Gravina), nerdy, science-minded Dustin (Garrett Clayton), and group realist Lucas (Sterling Sulieman, a trio of 12-year-old Indiana small town besties suddenly confronted with the disappearance of fourth musketeer Will into an alternate dimension known only as “The Upside Down.”

 The sudden arrival of a young girl recently escaped from the dirty-deeds-doing Hawkins Laboratory, a near-mute psychokinetically gifted waif they dub Eleven (Lana McKissack), adds to the mystery surrounding Will’s disappearance.

Completing the cast of characters is Will’s divorced mother Joyce (Emma Hunton), her teenaged son Jonathan (Owain Rhys-Davies), his high school classmate Steve (Clayton), Steve’s girlfriend Nancy (Kelley Jakle), police chief Jim Hopper (Eric Petersen), and Nancy’s nerdy friend Barb (Marissa Jaret Winokur).

 Netflix fans will delight in reliving Strangers Things’ first season’s most iconic scenes (click here to check out how they looked in the original) as recreated by a cast of triple-threats with dozens of Broadway and regional credits (and in one case a Best Actress Tony) on their resumés, all of whom appear to be having the time of their professional lives on the Rockwell cabaret stage and runway, atop the bar, and among dining and cocktailing guests.

 Among those Best Of Stranger Things moments are Will (or a puppet facsimile thereof) being captured after a game of Dungeons And Dragons by the Upside Down-residing monster known as the Demogorgon (Sulieman); Barb’s apparently fatal disappearance that had Stranger Things fans fuming; an autopsy that revealed something other than innards inside the deceased;

 a made-over Eleven showing off a frilly party dress and long blonde locks to first kiss-enduing effect; Mike’s death-defying jump off a quarry cliff; Joyce’s discovery that Christmas lights can do more than just decorate a tree; and more, many many more.

Following February’s UMPO Jurassic Park, director Nathan Moore helms Stranger Things with abundant zing, and what a cast he and executive producer Pazakis have assembled this time round with Broadway star Hunton giving Winona a run for her money as Joyce, money she works hard for in Hunton’s powerhouse Donna Summer cover.

 Broadway’s Petersen has great fun not only as Sheriff Hopper but with his hand up inside Will’s puppet ass, Gravina proves an adult-sized dead ringer for TV’s tween Mike, and Sulieman burns up the stage as Lucas when he’s not attacking his castmates as the Demogorgon.

 Tony winner Winoker steals every scene she’s in as a Barb who could give Saturday Night Live’s Pat a run for their money, Clayton sizzles even under lisp king Dustin’s mullet and shows off sky-high pipes to match Steve’s teen-idoliciousness in “The Final Countdown,” and Jakle has her Reese Witherspoon/Meg Ryan cuteness down to a T while duetting “Almost Paradise” with Clayton all the way up to the heavens.

 As for McKissack, not only does she vanish inside Eleven’s still-waters-run-deep skin and show off power pipes of her own, just wait till choreographer Mallory Butcher pays outrageously funny tribute to Jennifer Beals’ Flashdance dance double in “Maniac,” featuring Rhys-Davies as Marine Jahan as Jennifer Beals, just one of the West End vet’s multiple star turns, as teen hunk Jonathan, as Matthew Modine as Dr. Martin Brenner, and as the evening’s high-leapingest dancer in “Jump,” another Butcher gem.

Oh, and if ever a movie or TV show element seemed to signal a song cue, it’s Stranger Things’ “Upside Down.”

 Chadd Michael McMillan once again wears multiple hats to cheer-worthy effect, most notably as the designer of one deliciously tribute-paying costume after another, but also as production designer, technical director, and production stage manager.

Savannah Van Leuvan’s Vegas-ready lighting dazzles throughout, Brian Joseph Marchini’s sound design provides an expert mix of vocals under Gregory Nabours’ ace musical direction and pianist Nabours and his fellow bandmates Emily Rosenfield (guitar), Blake Estrada (bass), and Greg Sadler (drums).

Ashley Balderrama is production coordinator. Chris Chatman alternates with Sulieman as Lucas. Robyn S. Clark, assistant stage manager Zack Colonna, Amanda Kruger, and Trent Mills are understudies.

Not only one of UMPO’s all-time best installments, as the first to spoof a currently running TV series with fans numbering in the millions, UMPO Stranger Things could easily prove the series’ most popular entry to date despite some pretty stiff competition. Trust me. Stranger Things have happened.

Rockwell Table & Stage, 1714 N. Vermont, Los Angeles.
www.rockwell-la.com

–Steven Stanley
November 3, 2018
Photos: Bryan Carpender

Tags: Los Angeles Theater Review, Rockwell Table & Stage