by Tyler Christiansen. @tylerschrist.
NEW YORK - Following the success of their smash hit Six, Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss recently began previews for their new show, featuring the 75 wives of former cult leader, Rev. Linus Hershey.
“America needs this show, now more than ever’” stated Amanda Woods, the actress portraying Hershey’s 36th wife and resident bad girl, Temperance Edmiston Hershey. “We’re doing this for every person who’s found themselves brainwashed on a cornfield in Idaho. You are seen.”
Later in the evening, Woods would go on to perform her solo number, “You’re A False Idol Mr. Cooper”, a musical re-telling of the time Temperance watched 20 minutes of CNN behind Hershey’s back. It’s known as the cult’s most notorious scandal.
However, not all involved in the production were as hopeful. Sharon Ortiz, the show’s backstage tutor, was clearly at her wit’s end.
“Normally when I do a production, I have no more than five or six kids I’m working with,” claimed Ortiz as she struggled with a stack of test papers. “I had no idea that 28 of the wife characters were under 14 years old. Three of which still need to learn how to read.”
Theatre critic, Jeremy Goldthwait, shared some concerns of his own after catching the show’s earliest previews.
“That spark that made us fall in love with ‘Six’ just isn’t there. Instead of songs like ‘Don’t Lose Ur Head’, we get ‘Brother-Son Why Have You Forsaken Me?”. I’m also missing that witty banter I know Marlow and Moss are capable of. The closest we get is a scene where Judith Amity and Prudence Elizabeth fight over who the prophet will sacrifice first, but it just ends in them crying and braiding each other’s hair for 15 full minutes. It was really unsettling to watch”
Marlow and Moss plan to open the musical to the public later this year. When asked if there was any concern about protests from Hershey’s remaining followers, Moss squashed any worries.
“We’re not worried about any of them coming here and disrupting the show. They think the water in New York turns people into liberal sodomites, so I’m pretty sure we’re safe on that front.”
Comments