Hamilton may have concluded its Pantages Theatre run on Hollywood Blvd., but for those suffering Hamilton withdrawal, Musical Theatre West treats audiences to Spamilton, eighty minutes of Broadway satire at its funniest, cleverest, and most tuneful.

The brainchild of Gerard Alessandrini, who has spent the past four decades spoofing New York’s buzz-worthiest musicals as the Forbidden Broadway franchise, Spamilton: An American Parody takes as its starting-off point the 2015 blockbuster that dwarfed the competition like no musical ever has before.

Though its title might suggest a plot-based spoof of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Tony Award-sweeping retelling of the life of Founding Father Alexander Hamilton, what Spamilton satirizes is Hamilton the phenomenon, or more specifically how “a whippersnapper student of rap” transformed Broadway with a revolutionary mix of history and hip-hop peopled almost entirely by performers of color.

Whether it’s parodies like “Lin-Manuel As Hamilton,” “His Shot,” or “Look Around (The Schuyler Puppets),” Spamilton once again shows off creator-writer Alessandrini’s talent for tweaking original lyrics with a brilliance honed over decades, and never more so that when creating his own rap-rhymes to do Miranda proud.

Lin-Manuel as Hamilton may have declared his intention not to give up his “shot,” but “Lin-Manuel As Hamilton” (Andrew Puente) proudly proclaims, “I am not gonna let Broadway rot. I am just like a savior with Beyoncé behavior, and I love being a hot big shot.”

And when Summer Greer and a pair of Avenue Q-ready hand puppets show up as “Schuyler Sisters” Renée Elise Goldsberry, Phillipa Soo, and Jasmine Cephas Jones to bemoan Broadway’s current state, expect to hear “how yucky shows all are mashing up right now” as the sisters imagine The Lion King meeting The King And I and Les Miserables mashed up with Mamma Mia, and more.

In other words, it’s not only Hamilton (or Lin Manuel Miranda’s music) that Spamilton takes on.

Like Man Of La Mancha, Lin-Manuel has his own quest to fulfill, i.e. “to murder Matilda, to bury Bright Star”; “Ben Franklin, Sondheim & Lin-Manuel” features riffs on some of Stephen Sondheim’s Greatest Hits; the recent Broadway mega-smash Harry Potter and the Cursed Child and the godawful Charlie And The Chocolate Factory are hilarious, new-for-2022 additions to the show; and finally, it wouldn’t be a Lin-Manuel Mirada spoof without musical mention of the show that made him a Broadway household name in “In The Hype.”

Hamilton original cast members “Leslie Odom” (Cornelius Jones, Jr.) and “Daveed Diggs” (Marqell Edward Clayton) make appearances as well, with Dedrick Bonner completing the principal cast in role after role after roll.

While those not versed in Hamilton: An American Musical may find much of Spamilton: An American Parody whooshing over their heads (and those under thirty could easily be clueless to any 20th-century reference), there’s still plenty for all to cheer about.

Having choreographed Spamilton at least a half-dozen times (including its 2019 National Tour), Gerry McIntyre proves an ideal choice to not only once again assume that role for MTW but to direct as well, eliciting uniformly terrific performances from his entire cast while giving them plenty of exhilarating dance steps to execute.

Puente proves the next best thing to Lin Manuel himself, doing thoroughly winning work as Miranda’s two most famous creations and more.

A dynamite Clayton sports a mop-top wig to do Daveed Diggs (a character he salutes in song) proud, Musical Theatre Star Of The Year Scenie winner Jones packs a punch as (among others) “Leslie Odom as Aaron Burr,” a sizzling Greer matches her male costars every step of the way in well over half-a-dozzen different roles, and Bonner’s mountainous redheaded orphan moppet is just one of his fabulous creations. (Stephen Sondheim as Ben Franklin is another.)

Last but not least, diva impersonator par excellence Trisha Rapier dazzles as Patti, Liza, Julie, and Barbra, and MTW favorite Jason Graae’s steals the show as a foppish King George III who shows up to proclaim that “straight is back, time will tell, Kinky Boots is going straight to hell.”

Musical director Wilkie Fergusson III proves himself as expert at the keyboard as he is a musical theater triple threat, and music supervisor Fred Barton’s arrangements are as melodious as arrangements get, from the girl group harmonies of “Look Around” to the operetta-ready “Straight Is Back” to the jazzy beats of “What Did You Miss.”

Production design kudos are shared by Kevin Clowes (set), Dustin Cross (costumes), Jean-Yves Tessier (lighting), and Julie Ferrin (sound), all of them first-rate.

Bren Thor is company Manager, Steve Calzaretta is production manager, John “JP” Pollard is production stage manager and Alyssa Escalante is assistant stage manager.

Lin-Manuel Miranda himself is quoted as having “laughed [his] brains out” at Spamilton and no wonder. As it was when I first reviewed it at the Kirk Douglas a few years back, Spamilton: An American Parody is every bit hilarious as each and every Forbidden Broadway before it, and even more so for those in the Hamilton know.

Musical Theatre West, Richard and Karen Carpenter Performing Arts Center, 6200 Atherton St., Long Beach.
www.musical.org

–Steven Stanley
March 26, 2022

Tags: Gerald Alessandrini, Los Angeles Theater Review, Musical Theatre West