The revised version of the musical – which was previously presented as part of the Village Originals Festival of New Musicals in 2006 – has bounced from an Off-Broadway run to a developmental reading at New York Musical Theatre Festival (NYMF) and a full production at NYMF.
The musical now returns to the Village Originals series in Issaquah, WA, May 23-25. David Bennett will direct the presentation with musical direction by John Allman.
The Starfighter cast includes Brian Earp (Alex/Beta), Timothy McCuen Piggee (Centauri), Jessica Skerritt (Maggie/Alien Recruit), Eric Polani Jensen (Otis/Grig), Hugh Hastings (Harry/Enduran), John Patrick Lowrie (Hugh/Ko-Dan General Krill), Jayne Muirhead (Elaine/Manzar), Sharva Maynard (Granny/Alien Recruit), Collin Morris (Jerry/G'nur), Abby Pollard (Jenny/Taura/Miss July), Kat Ramsburg (Darlene/Alien Recruit/Zur's Asst.), Brian Lange (Marty/Ko-Dan Lt. Parak), Dan Connor (Blake/Zur), Vickilee Wohlbach (Mrs. Rogan/Alien Recruit) and Sam Tacher (Louis/Alien Recruit).
Book writer Fred Landau said in a statement, "Several people from Village Theatre had been in New York at the time of the festival shows, and came to see our production. They listened to what we felt we would like to try from our observations at NYMF, and they gave us some of their thoughts based on the presentations both at Village Theatre and in New York."
Based on the screenplay of the hit 1980s movie, The Last Star Fighter, according to press notes, "follows the adventures of 18-year-old Alex Rogan, a teenager with a gift for playing video games. When Alex breaks the record on his favorite intergalactic video game, he finds himself pulled into a reality where the fate of the galaxy is placed in his hands. Aided by an alien con man named Centauri, and stalked by alien bounty hunters called Zan-Do-Zans, Alex sets off on an exciting quest that will change the course of his life forever." Composer and lyricist Skip Kennon previously informed Playbill.com of some of the re-writes Starfighter has undergone since its NYMF outing, explaining, "We're going to experiment with cutting a ballad early in the show, because we got the sense at NYMF that the musical theatre lovers were anxious to get to the appearance of Centauri, the Robert Preston character. Also, we're going to test out flipping the numbers at the end of the first act, to end the act on an inspirational number and spirit, rather than a predominantly comic number. And, we're still playing around with the musical material for the battle sequence in Act Two; we think we got the structure of the sequence right at NYMF, but we want to try something a little more in tune with the period when the show takes place."
Tickets for the May 23-25 readings, priced $10-12, are available by phoning (425) 392-2202. For further information visit www.villagetheatre.org.
