A Night At The Theatre

Last night I attended Theatre Alliance's Spooky Dog And The Teenage Gang Mystery, an irreverent adult spoof of the Scooby Doo cartoons I grew up watching every Saturday morning. Originally scheduled to be a staged reading, the cast chose to memorize their lines. And with an actual set, props and amazingly accurate costumes, it was a full scale production.

The show begins with the audience being asked for 3 things:

1.) The name of a celebrity
2.) Advice your mom would give you
3.) A personal item

Heather suggested Ricky Martin for our night's celebrity, and the Spooky Dog cast handled the improv well with "Livin' la Vida Loca", "Shake Your Bon-Bon" and Menudo references. (Madonna, Britney Spears and Kathy Bates were suggested celebrities during their rehearsals. I'd have loved to have seen how they handled the latter celebrity.) "Don't put that in your mouth." was the sage advice from one audience member and fit right in with the adult comedy of the show, as did the egg shaker provided by Cheri.

It was an uproariously hilarious show complete with a couple of musical numbers. All embodied their "Scooby Doo" alter egos extremely well, including Nichelle Wright and Stephen Holley as the token villains. But it was Danielle Barnicle's "Daphne" posturing that continuously cracked me up and Sean Farrell's vocalization of "Shaggy" that most impressed me.

A guest appearance by Fred Flintstone rounded out a highly enjoyable show.