On Friday, April 21, SCAD’s PE SCORES!, hosted a double feature event of “The Snuff Musical.” Adapted by Performance Ensemble Director Kevin Wallace, it’s a musical about making a musical. To add yet another layer, it turns out that the musical (the fictional musical in the actual musical) is based on is a “found footage” snuff film. For the most part, the story, dialogue and music all add up to a fun and scandalous event.
One of the funniest parts of the musical is seeing how the overall joke of the show plays out. The irony of knowing that one of the characters is going to die makes the clichés of showtunes and the underdog story more of an effective punch to the gut. There are also various jabs at both pop culture and show business culture that had the audience rolling with laughter.
Of course, a line is only as funny as the actor who delivers. It did take a while for the Performance Ensemble cast to get in their roles, but once they did, they each delivered out a knock-out performance. Each performer had a solo, making sure everyone had a chance to give it their all.
The first act of the show seemed to be all of the performers trying to get into character, trying to catch up with the rushed pace of the writing. n this act there were some musical errors, too, with off-key notes or occasional cracked vocals.
And while the acting does improve in the latter half of the musical, it can’t make up for the writing choices. While the big joke hits the mark spot on, with plenty of witty remarks in between, the majority of the shock humor just seemed dated.
Though these things stunted the show, they weren’t enough enough to spoil it entirely. It was fun, campy and genuinely made me laugh.
The next Performance Ensemble production will take place on May 5 and 6, a steampunk rendition of Romeo and Juliet titled “Steam Punks.”
Currently pursuing a B.F.A. in Writing as well as a minor in Music Production.
