While most people spent their Friday night out partying with their friends, celebrating yet another week of hard work, I had what some might call a unique and momentous night out in a completely different way. On April 6, I traveled down to Yale to witness one of the first ever performances of “Pokemon: The Mew-sical,” directed and co-written by my good friend from home, Ryan Bowers (Yale ’14). I entered the theater with high expectations, which were exceeded beyond all understanding as I watched my entire childhood unfold in an evening of ridiculous puns, live Pokemon battles, and Team Rocket’s horrendously enjoyable botched burglaries.
The first act of the show was structured along the same lines as the first few episodes of the television show most of us know and love. Ten year old Ash Ketchum (Mark Trapani) proclaims to his mother and the suspiciously friendly Mr. Mime (Cody Kahoe), their house servant that he wants to be the very best Pokemon trainer there ever was. In fact, hints about the supposed paternal relation between Mr. Mime and Ash are some of the most outrageously comical breaks from the main storyline. Ash then travels across town to visit the extremely absent-minded Professor Oak (Zeke Blackwell), who gives him his infamous Pikachu (Jen Mulrow) as well as a turkey baster he claims will become of use later (spoiler: it doesn’t).
The story continues to spiral into one ridiculous episode right after another, similar in style to “A Very Potter Musical.” The ruthless Team Rocket leader, Giovanni (Jordan Ascher), stood out as one of the key performers, fluctuating between a purely evil, maniacal villain who shoots (yes, there are guns in this Pokemon world) his expendable henchmen whenever he reaches a moment of frustration, and a man-child scarred from the early death of his Pikachu at the hands of his mother. This becomes his motivation for sending out all of his Team Rocket thieves, namely Jesse (Lucy Cabrera), James (Matthew Prewitt), and Meowth (Jake Backer), to steal Ash’s beloved Pikachu. The Team Rocket trio also proved to be one of the most cohesive aspects of the show. I would be lying if I said that I could distinguish the three stage actors from the animated characters on the show. Creeping around stage to the tune of a Pink Panther-like melody made their roles in the show all the more believable and fun.
More familiar faces are encountered as Ash continues his unrealistic trip to collect every gym badge. Gary (Gabe Greenspan, a co-writer of the show), Ash’s rival and Oak’s nephew, is portrayed as the ultimate Poke-bro, always using a chauvinistic Eevee whose trademark “leer” attack is always quickly followed by the same hyperbolic praise: “SICK!” Misty (Laurel Durning-Hammond) and Brock (Nelson Madubuonwu) round out the cast. Durning-Hammond conveyed the wonderfully bashful ginger we remember from the show, who was always being pulled back and forth between Ash and his hardening Metapod (oh yeah, that’s in the musical) and the rock Pokemon trainer whose eyes, for some unexplained reason, are never open.
After the first act, the writing moves away from source material, takes more liberties, and finds a way to bring all the jokes and spirit of the show to an absurd yet extremely satisfying finale. As for production value, the musical itself had little, aside from a few cardboard cutouts and a cheaply made Charizard model. But that’s never what the show was about. “Pokemon: The Mew-sical” strove to create a world where, for an hour and a half, the audience could forget about their problems or school work. Instead, they could have their childhood rejuvenated as their favorite card game and television show became a reality onstage.
The audience’s reaction alone was enough to make this writer smile uncontrollably. It was amazing to see the joy of the Pokemon world play out as a performance in a small theater with a band in the corner and a few actors on stage in knock-off costumes. One could see the amount of hard work and love that every single member of the cast and crew put into this incredible production. Sometimes all you need to make great theater is heart, energy, and a story you’re willing to attend to, no matter how bizarre it may seem.
From what I understand, the performances were recorded and will be up on YouTube by the start of the summer. Keep on the lookout. The next “A Very Potter Musical,” anyone?