Scream Queens the Musical Preview

By John Farrell

If the title, Scream Queens The Musical, doesn’t tell you what you are going to get, then you probably have been watching nothing but Face the Nation and Wall Street Week, and probably wouldn’t get it anyway.

But if you are a child of the last forty years of television and movies; if you even like or just know about Hollywood horror films, especially the cheap ones, you’ll love this camp musical presented with a little style by the Kentwood Players.

It doesn’t have much of a story and the songs are not show-stoppers. But the six cast members, Azeen Kazemi, Amanda Majkrzak, Alison Matiza, Victoria Miller, Jennifer Richardson and Susan Goldman Weisbarth have energy and charm to spare, and they take their roles as the not-quite-sought-after stars of low budget Hollywood very seriously.

They are all working women–women with dreams. Even if the dreams involve chainsaws, and they are not all conventionally pretty. One is a fifty-plus ex-playboy model. Another is simply fat, but they all can scream and they all want to charm you, and a mysterious producer is in the audience as well. They get a few audience members to scream, but none are anywhere as good as these six women, who dance and sing and change costumes in an instant in this clever show.

Scott Martin wrote this musical as a tribute to the movies and stars he loved. Here, he directs it with affection and a little nostalgia of those low budget movies that once were the fodder of late night TV.

The actresses are ostensibly at a convention in 1998 in the Midwest and they are willing to do some pretty weird things for the audience and that elusive producer. That includes showing a lot of short clips from their films on the big screen at one side of the stage, and songs being sung about Fay Wray (their heroine) and Roger Korman (King of the B-pictures). Martin originated the show in 1997, so you have to imagine the film clips, shown with powerpoint are a recent innovation.

It’s fun, positive and affectionate. Maybe you don’t want your daughters to end up in the business, but, in addition to the comic turns, these are actually characters who have some success, and it is good to see them scream and sing and succeed on stage.

Tickets are $23, $21 for students, seniors and service personnel. Performance are Friday, September 28 at 8 p.m., Saturday, September 29 at 8 p.m., Sunday, September 30 at 2 p.m., Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m., Sundays at 2 p.m. through October 20.
Details: (310) 645-5156,  www.kentwoodplayers.org
Venue: Westchester Playhouse
Location: 8301 Hindry Ave., Los Angeles