Starmites might possibly be the least remembered Best Musical Tony nominee of the 1980s, but there’s nothing in the least bit forgettable about Open Fist Theatre Company’s irresistibly entertaining intimate revival of the 1989 Broadway gem.

Nominated for a whopping 6 Tonys, Barry Keating and Stuart Ross’s musical fantasy focuses on teen outcast Eleanor (Talia Gloster), so bored with her humdrum life and so obsessed with her comic book collection that she escapes into a fantasy world called Inner Space, a land guarded by the Starmites, a feisty band of cute teen boys who “fight for the right and unite to be free.”

When Eleanor’s mother (Cat Davis) throws out her stay-at-home daughter’s precious comic book collection, Eleanor suddenly finds herself visited by the intrepid Space Punk (Bradley Sharper) and his fellow Starmites—S’up S’up Sensaboi (Alex Hogy), Ack Ack Hackerax (Rieves Bowers), and Diggety Razzledazzle (Jasper Wong), a foursome talented and cute enough to be a Boy Band, especially when executing choreographer Becca Sweitzer’s ‘N Sync-ready dance moves.

Eleanor, redubbed Milady and accompanied by the Starmites and lizard mascot Trinkulus (Brendan Mullaly), then treks off into Shriekwood Forest in search of “The Cruelty,” a powerful musical instrument which the sextet must find before it falls into the hands of the evil Shak Graa, Arch-Creep of Chaos.

Before they can accomplish this, however, they find themselves captured by a quartet of winged warrior women known as the Banshees—Shotzi (Sophie Oda), Balbraka (Lindsey Moore Ford), Canibelle (Elle Engelman), and Hollaback (Sarah Martellaro)— and the appropriately named Diva (Davis again), Queen Of The Banshees, whose mission in life is to marry off her virtually unweddable (and equally aptly named) daughter Bizarbara (Gloster, nearly unrecognizable in glasses and a deliciously godawful frizz wig), a girl who’d gladly switch places with Eleanor in an instant.

When both Eleanor and Bizabara fall head over heels for Space Punk (but he only for one of them), the stage is set for some hypnotic motherly interference.

Silly as all of this may sound to those who couldn’t care less about the Marvel Universe (this reviewer for one), it is silliness at its campy best, with such delish lines as Diva’s “Do my senses deceive me, or am I truly viewing humans of the boy persuasion?” and Balbraka and Canibelle’s hungry response, “May we pet them? May we fluff them?”

Keating’s songs are not only tuneful and clever, they arrive virtually nonstop, among them such earwormy treats as the power-ballad love duet “Love Duet,” the jazzy “The Cruelty Stomp,” and the infectious title song.

Catchiest of all is “Hard To Be A Diva,” a showstopper that has Davis channeling the late great Tina Turner and the Banshees in Ikettes mode. (Substitute “It’s hard, it’s hard, it’s hard” for “Proud Mary’s” “Rolling, rolling, rolling” refrain and you’ll have an idea of why this is an apt comparison.)

Under Scott Peterman’s inspired direction, Davis steals every scene she’s in as a woman who could give Barbra and Madonna lessons in bossing underlings around, the mirror opposite of Davis’s loving if frustrated Earthling mother.

Musical theater up-and-comers Gloster and Sharper make impressive Open Fist debuts, the former as a plucky superhero in training (and the most ungainly of offspring), the latter as the spunky charmer both Eleanor and Bizarbara have the hots for.

Boy band trios don’t get any cuter or more talented than Hogy, Bowers, and Wong, and Mulally’s red-haired, Elphaba-green Trinkulus is as weirdly wonderful as the lizard skin and tail he sports, just one of many Comic Con-ready costumes concocted by design ace Linda Muggeridge.

Oda, Ford, Engelman, and Martellaro couldn’t be fiercer or more fabulous than they are as the Banshees, and in case you’re wondering, that’s Jack David Sharpe hiding beneath Droid’s black-clad form and behind its twinkle-light-lit mask.

Peterman’s sci-fi-ready set lets us spy on music director extraordinaire Jan Roper and her fellow band members throughout the show, and the director/scenic designer’s animated projections are each and every one a visual feast.

Add to this Gavan Wyrick’s eye-dazzling lighting, Chad Jones’s fantastical wigs, Martha Phelan’s Banshee hair design, and sound designer Kurt Vanzo’s pitch-perfect mix of amplified vocals and live instrumentals and you’ve got a show that looks as good as it sounds.

Last but not least, Jacob Grigolia-Rosenbaum’s fight choreography is just what the Superhero Universe ordered.

Starmites is produced by Martha Demson. Emily Rafala is Banshee swing. Stephanie Crothers is charge scenic designer. John Dimitri is production stage manager and Syanne Green is assistant stage manager. Lucy Pollak is publicist.

Despite its Broadway flop status, the teen-populated Starmites has become a high school musical favorite.

But don’t let that fool you into thinking it’s just for comic book-loving school kids. Open Fist’s Starmites is a delectable musical treat no matter how old you are or what your literary tastes may be.

Open Fist Theatre Company @ Atwater Village Theatre, 3269 Casitas Ave., Atwater Village.
www.openfist.org

–Steven Stanley
June 4, 2023
Photos: Jenny Graham

Tags: Atwater Village Theatre, Barry Keating, Los Angeles Theater Review, Open Fist Theatre Company, Stuart Ross