MCT set to present musical parody ‘Yippee Ki-Yay Merry Christmas’
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By now, the debate over whether or not John McTiernan's 1988 action classic "Die Hard" should be considered a Christmas movie has been beaten to death, but there's no denying that Marshalltown Community Theatre's latest production of the musical parody "Yippee Ki-Yay Merry Christmas" falls firmly within the holiday canon.
Kevin Jensen, who is co-directing the show along with Carter Richerodt, called it a five-year dream of his after watching an episode of the TV show "Bob's Burgers" where the characters get involved in making the film into a musical.
"Ever since then, if you've run into me at Fiddle and Whistle or whatever, I've talked about it incessantly, so I couldn't be happier to have everybody come and share in this dream of mine," Jensen said.
In a nod to the parody aspect of the production, the names of the three main characters are slightly changed: the hero is now Bruce McClane, an amalgamation of the legendary actor's first name and the character's last name, while the villain is Hans Olo instead of Gruber and McClane's semi-estranged wife is Holly Generic. Holly Hurst, who plays Holly Generic, said it was fun to work from a source material that's so familiar to most of the cast and crew.
"We all know it, so it's like a series of inside jokes that we're all in on," she said.
And, as her castmates noted, her character is more empowered with more attitude and fire.
"I can totally relate to Holly McClane as being a woman and being a strong person and making your own way in the world, so it's fun to bring a lot of energy and passion to that character," she said.
Christian Stickrod plays Hans Olo and called the show "a riot all the way through."
"It's just kind of effortless to really enjoy yourself and put your whole self into the part," he said.
In his audition, Stickrod said he tried to be reverent to the late Alan Rickman's original performance, but as he went along, it became something closer to Matthew Barry in the vampire TV show "What We Do in the Shadows."
"I feel like it still works. What I like about the way the character camps up is that he's just really b****y and just very snarly, and he's just a blast," Stickrod said.
Gabriel Duden, donning the trademark Hawaiian shirt and white tank top of Bruce Willis's John McClane, relished the opportunity to put his own spin on the iconic character due to the fact that it's more a comedy spoof than a shot-for-shot reproduction of "Die Hard."
And of course, what's a musical without music? With live accompaniment and a backing chorus, the songs -- with titles such as "80s Lady," "Terrorist Tony," "Cocaine" and "Federall Bada** Investigator" -- come to life and reflect the very much R-rated sensibility of the production.
"Yippee Ki-Yay" will be performed at the Miller Middle School auditorium with a total of six shows -- this Friday and Saturday night at 7 p.m., a Sunday matinee at 2 p.m., and then Thursday, Friday and Saturday of next week, all at 7 p.m. Tickets are $15 and can be purchased either at the door or at https://marshalltowncommunitytheatre.org/. MCT can also be found on Facebook.
For Jensen, a first time director, he's excited to finally bring his long-gestating dream to the stage.
"I feel like this really was a gamble on everybody else's part to buy into what I was trying to put together here, and they absolutely have. It's theirs. It's not mine," he said. "It stopped being mine months ago."
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Contact Robert Maharry at 641-753-6611 ext. 255 or
rmaharry@timesrepublican.com.