Is there anyone who enjoys laughing at the quirks of their favorite art form more than musical theater people? I doubt it. Sure, Apple TV+ dropped the musical comedy “Schmigadoon!” after two seasons, but a stage version is set to premiere at the Kennedy Center in 2025. And yes, “Forbidden Broadway: Merrily We Stole a Song” recently postponed its Broadway run, but iterations of the parody revue have played in over 200 cities since 1982. So it’s safe to say that people who tear up at the melodies of Andrew Lloyd Webber can also laugh about the fact that the Phantom is kind of a creep. Musical theater fans contain multitudes.
Hell in a Handbag Productions taps into this rich comedic vein with its world premiere production of “Poor People! The Parody Musical” by Tyler Anthony Smith. Directed by Stephanie Shaw, with music direction by Andrew Milliken and choreography by Christopher Kelley, this bawdy romp is a hilarious send-up of popular musicals populated by orphaned New Yorkers, Cockney street vendors and Parisian sex workers.
Dakota Hughes stars as Li’l Orphan Arnie, a red-headed kid with a fondness for show tunes and a dream that their parents will return someday with the missing piece of the broken Liza Minnelli record they wear around their neck. When they escape the orphanage/meth lab run by the chain-smoking Miss A (Sydney Genco), Arnie discovers a portal that takes them from 1979 New York to 1815 Paris.
Arnie isn’t the only one who has traveled through the portal. Nineteenth century Paris seems to be the hub that draws unfortunate souls from across time and space, with the through-line being that they all prefer to process their trauma through belting ballads. In the city’s seedy underworld, Arnie and their feline companion, Fosse Kitty (Matty Bettencourt), meet kind-hearted prostitute Nance (Smith), flamboyant pimp Fagin (David Cerda), forlorn Epipen (Taylor Dalton), sickly Pantene (Caitlin Jackson), chipper young Twinky (Patrick O’Keefe), Pretty Rich Boy (Tommy Thurston) and a nameless beggar woman with a taste for squirrel meat (Elizabeth Lesinski).
And because one villain isn’t enough, the time-bending storyline introduces the Groomer of the Flop’ra (Shane Roberie), Nance’s longtime stalker; and Mama Moneybags (Brittney Brown), a GOP politician who travels back in time from 2024 to stamp out the plague of prostitution.
This motley company rattles off irreverent parodies of some two dozen songs from “Annie,” “Cats,” “Les Misérables,” “Mary Poppins,” “My Fair Lady,” “Oliver!” and more. Smith’s writing is highly self-aware, with meta comments on musical theater tropes and inside jokes about dramaturgy, the Jeff Awards and Actors’ Equity. It would be misleading to say that the book and lyrics are full of sexual innuendoes because more often than not, they say the quiet part out loud. There’s also profanity, shots at antivaxxers and an, um, explicit interpretation of Jesus Christ’s final hours. So, maybe leave the kids at home.
One of the strengths of this production is the way it leans into the limitations of storefront theater and makes it all part of the joke. Characters poke fun at the low-budget set (designed by G. “Max” Maxin IV), and the turntable and projections intentionally malfunction. Rachel M. Sypniewski’s costumes and Maggie O’Brien’s props add to the zany humor. I won’t soon forget the chorus of crazed squirrel corpses that accompanies the beggar woman’s rendition of “Feed the Birds.”
The homespun feel also comes through in the music. Smith’s lyrics often don’t map smoothly onto the existing tunes, but this seems to be a running gag. The plodding lyrics from the opening number of “Les Mis” (“Look down”) transform into a clunky refrain of “or-phans” when we meet Arnie and crew in Miss A’s orphanage. Also, several actors’ vocal ranges don’t really fit their characters’ songs, but this becomes the perfect setup for Arnie — too quiet in the “Annie” parodies — to later bring down the house with Christine Daaé’s famous high notes.
The first act gets a bit long, with several false endings, but it’s worth the wait to see the company wave tiny French flags during a parody of “One Day More” before the chandelier falls to signal the start of intermission. The plot gets even wilder in Act 2, but as Arnie says with a shrug, “What’s some more trauma?”
Musical theater devotees with a slightly sick sense of humor will find “Poor People!” a riot. But don’t bring your friend who thinks “The Phantom of the Opera” is actually an opera. They’ll probably be more lost than Li’l Orphan Arnie in the red light district of Paris.
Review: “Poor People! The Parody Musical” (3.5 stars)
When: Through June 16
Where: The Chopin Studio Theatre, 1543 W. Division St.
Running time: 2 hours, 25 minutes
Tickets: $42-$60 at www.handbagproductions.org
