Solid ensemble chemistry, a nice selection of musical sendups and the especially strong performances of Zeb and Skruuck, the extraterrestrial character leads, have combined to make Salt Lake Acting Company’s (SLAC) summer show Close Encounters in the Beehive the perfect light fare during this hot, dry season.
Directed and choreographed by Cynthia Fleming and with Zach Hansen as music director, the show hits its best stride in the second act. This year’s writing team — Olivia Custodio, David Knoell and Penelope Caywood — astutely settled on the comic premise of a pair of peculiar aliens (Joseph Paul Branca as Zeb and Nate Ginsberg as Skruuck) who have been sent from deep space to investigate the strange land of Deseret and its quirky Mormon inhabitants and to report back to their Overlord (an intergalactic Elon Musk, voiced by Marc Nielson) for determining whether or not the planet should be spared from annihilation. The aliens arrive in a spaceship that resembles the local cultural icon of the whale sculpture located in Salt Lake City’s Ninth and Ninth neighborhood (designed by Erik Reichert). Given Utahns’ propensity to inflate their significance in the global scheme of things, the writers do an effective job of centering Utah as the pivotal location for the existential sake of earthly preservation.
Rendered as classic alien characters in their green costumes, E.T.-like long, slender fingers and their oddly shaped heads (costume design by Alicia Kondrick), Branca and Ginsberg excel in orchestrating the best performances, especially with Branca’s fine deadpan comedic delivery. Zeb and Skruuck are creatively imagined amalgams which incorporate the famously bizarre Coneheads (which Saturday Night Live original cast member Dan Aykroyd created in the 1970s, with Beldar, Prymaat and Connie who came from the planet Remulak), along with elements from the Robin Williams sitcom Mork & Mindy that ran for four seasons until 1982 and some vibes from Comedy Central’s venerable animated hit South Park.
In the SNL series of skits, the Coneheads were stuck in America’s suburbia and learned to enjoy, among other earthly delicacies, “fried chicken embryos.” Whenever they were asked where they came from, their cover story was that they were French. In the SLAC show, the counterpoint between Branca’s Zeb and Ginsberg’s Skruuck is very good. Zeb (who has quite a bit of the best comedic lines in the script) is generally formal and businesslike, trying to exert control over the situation, especially when the pair of aliens roleplay as Mormon missionaries to fit into the Mormon family (the Jorgensens), which has welcomed them.
written by Olivia Custodio, David Knoell and Penelope Caywood,
directed and choreographed by Cynthia Fleming.
Photo Credit: Todd Collins Photography.
Skruuck is like the Mork character, who becomes enchanted by one of the Jorgensen daughters in the Mormon American family. The Overlord Musk, more intense than the mostly invisible Orson from Mork & Mindy, is increasingly impatient and frustrated, exasperated that Zeb (less so) and Skruuck (more so) have adapted themselves to a Utah way of life. Musk is cartoonishly bombastic, which the writers have satirized effectively. As for the Jorgensen family, try to imagine a wild, unplugged version of the 1950s television sitcom Father Knows Best.
As expected, the politically themed scenes and numbers that are SLAC summer show staples satisfy the audience, many of whom are delighted by any opportunity to skewer the likes of Utah’s Governor Spencer Cox (the song You’re a Fuck Up Spencer Cox, set to music from You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown) and the Trump-Biden debate (which now has lost a good deal of its punch, given recent developments in the presidential race). One of the sharpest numbers in the first act is the razor-like You Gotta Get A Gimmick (a sendup from the excellent Gypsy musical). Music is compacted nicely and covered by Hansen on keyboard and Spencer Kellogg on woodwinds and strings.
But, it is the second act that sparkles the most in the set numbers: notably, Someone That’s Greene (from the wonderfully nostalgic Little Shop of Horrors’ Somewhere That’s Green) and Beings In the Sky (a well-chosen narrative lift from Into the Woods’ Giants in the Sky). Zeb is incredulous at what he sees in the inner sanctum of the Mormon family home where the members — including daughters with names, only imaginable in Utah (Braxley and Celestleigh) — try their damndest to keep up with standards of perfection à la LDS doctrine.
written by Olivia Custodio, David Knoell and Penelope Caywood, directed and choreographed by Cynthia Fleming.
Photo Credit: Todd Collins Photography.
Taking on various characters, the remaining six cast members relish their frequent switches in stage duties. In addition to Musk, Nielson sails through the turns as a homeless man, security guard, Trump, Cox, and Brigham Young University student. Robert Scott Smith offers his usual excellent performances, this time as Biden and as Kevin Bacon (riffing on the actor’s return to the Utah location where Footloose was filmed 40 years ago) and as Biden. Likewise, Micki Martinez moves effortlessly from one role to another, including a Mormon tour guide and a police officer. Rounding out the rest of the Jorgensen family are Melody Braugh (mother), Noelani Brown (Braxley) and Alexa Kelly Shaheen (Celestleigh) who capture the quintessential Utah Mormoń behavior one would expect from such a family in the heart of Zion.
It is exactly the type of SLAC summer show which tickles the loyal core of the theatrical company’s usual audience and for newcomers, it is representative of the consistently excellent quality of talent which graces the SLAC stage. Performances continue through Aug. 18, including an Aug.3 fundraising benefit show, beginning at 6 p.m., for the company. For tickets and more information, see this SLAC website link.