This July and August, Doctuh Mistuh Productions are bringing their unique version of summer stock theater to Austin, presenting three full-length musicals in just five weeks. 鈥淵eah, we made a joke about it,鈥� says Michael McKelvey, Doctuh Mistuh鈥檚 artistic director. 鈥淥riginally we were calling it 'Summer Slam', and I was like, no, let's find something that all three shows have in common, which there isn't [much of]. But we decided love because it's a universal thing, but so we're calling it a鈥� 'Summer of Love.'鈥�
The lineup for the 'Summer of Love' seems appropriately eclectic for a company that has staged, among other shows, Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, Silence! The Musical, and Evil Dead: The Musical. They鈥檙e restaging the popular Lizzie: The Musical (about Lizzie Borden) and presenting a brand new production of The Toxic Avenger Musical along with the regional premiere of the docu-musical Pretty Filthy.
McKelvey says Toxic Avenger is a show Doctuh Mistuh has wanted to do for years. 鈥淪o myself and company member Joey Banks, it's the show's a personal favorite of ours,鈥� he says. 鈥淎nd one of our mission statements with the company is we will never do a show 鈥� or we will try never to do a show 鈥� that someone else in the city will produce, or has produced. We only want to bring new material to the city. And we just assumed, because Toxic Avenger is known throughout the country and there's a whole film鈥� someone would do it, and no one has. So for 10 years we've kind of waited.鈥�
This summer, they鈥檙e finally getting their chance, with Banks playing the title role and McKelvey directing. In addition to their long-awaited staging of The Toxic Avenger Musical, they鈥檒l also be presenting the regional premiere of the docu-musical Pretty Filthy. 鈥淭he premise is it鈥檚 a musical about the people that work in the adult film industry,鈥� McKelvey explains. 鈥淚t is not a porn musical, but is a musical about the people who make porn. I know that sounds a little strange, but The Civilians [the creative collective behind the work] always tackle social dilemmas or social crises, or just things about society that might be off the beaten path in their shows. So, they actually went to the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles, and that is where the bulk of porn is filmed. And they interviewed people for two months 鈥� directors, actors, agents 鈥� and they all gave interviews on their experiences and why they got into it and what it is like. What we were surprised about with it was how matter of fact all the interviews were. Subjects that we would think are a little bit taboo to discuss in public, they discuss in a very natural manner because this is what they do. And it's a musical! With like really good music! Michael Friedman, who wrote scores for Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson and a number of off-Broadway shows, he composed the score. And then Bess Wohl, who wrote Small Mouth Sounds and a number of screenplays and TV series, she wrote the script. So the script is really well crafted, we like the score a lot, and we think people will be surprised at the quality of show it is. We're just very excited about it and we hope that people won't be deterred by the subject matter.鈥�
McKelvey is excited to bring all three of these musicals to Austin, but staging three full-length musicals in five weeks is kind of a huge undertaking. 鈥淚'm exhausted,鈥� he says. 鈥淚 mean, I'm used to a summer stock schedule 鈥� I just finished a gig in Illinois where I did Hairspray and mounted that show in like 10 days. That's kind of typical summer theater. [But] I'm not as young as I used to be, so it's a little bit harder to keep it going. But yeah, doing three shows in five weeks, or I mean six weeks including rehearsal, it's kind of crazy. But we think that's what people have come to expect from Doctuh Mistuh Productions 鈥� just that we're going in full steam ahead, take no prisoners. We're gonna bring theater to Austin [that] nobody else will. So we hope you can buckle up and take the ride with us.鈥�
