The theater is a superstitious place. A bad dress rehearsal means opening night will be a hit. Always say “break a leg” to actors, not “good luck.”
So maybe there’s some cosmic good fortune in putting on a show called “Disaster!” The musical is the Kenai Performers’ latest, and it opens tonight at the group’s space in Soldotna.
“We have all the disco music you could want,” said Director and Choreographer Terri Zopf-Schoessler. "This is my high school and college years put together.”
“Disaster!” is a jukebox musical, built around a soundtrack of hits from the 1970s like Donna Summer’s “Hot Stuff” and “Hooked on a Feeling” by Blue Swede.
The show is set aboard a floating casino and plays on another 1970s relic — the disaster film. The ship’s staff and passengers are pummeled by earthquakes and fires, all while belting disco tunes and doing the hustle in big, ensemble-heavy numbers.
Not everyone in the show remembers the style and music of the 1970s with the same fondness Zopf-Schoessler does — or remembers it at all. Cast member Jackson Hooper is 13, though you wouldn’t know it from the snazzy suit he wears as one of the ship’s guests.
But he said he’ll be listening to disco music even once the show — his sixth with Kenai Performers — wraps. His favorite number is Jigsaw’s “Sky High.”
“I love the music,” he said. “All this disco, it’s amazing.”
Cast member Todd Sherwood, who plays Jake, said it’s still worth seeing the show even if you’re unfamiliar, or if you’re straight-up disco averse.
“If you don’t know these songs, you will love this show,” he said. “It is super high energy, super fun.”
“It’s a giant singing Hostess cupcake,” Hooper added.
Zopf-Schoessler said she thinks it’s the funniest show the performers have ever done. One of her favorite characters is Sister Mary Downey, a nun who’s fending off a gambling addiction, played by Alyeska Garrett — one of the show’s two dozen cast members. Each has a costume that's bigger and flashier than the last (think towering wigs and sparkly bodysuits).
Sherwood is sporting sideburns and aviators. He’s dressed in all black, his unbuttoned shirt showing off strings of gold chains. He got the directive from Zopf-Schoessler.
“She said I want you to look like every guy I never wanted to date back then,” he said.
This is Sherwood’s fourth show with the performers.
Some cast members are making their debut this weekend, like first-time Kenai Performer Morgan Pattock, who’s in the show alongside her brother Shane. She plays Tracy, the waitress.
“I’m so glad to be part of theater because it definitely is bringing a new light to my life,” she said. “And I’m hopefully going to go to college for it.”
That “light” is something Zopf-Schoessler hopes the audience will feel, too. She said the musical is a sort-of salve to the waning days of winter.
And it’s not something to be enjoyed passively, either.
“If you come on a Friday or Saturday night, we do have a cash bar, and we have a one-hour disco party afterwards, where you can just boogie the night away,” Zopf-Schoessler said. “For me, just the idea of hanging out, having fun, staying safe but also just laughing ourselves into a crazy place is wonderful.”
“Disaster! The Musical” goes up this weekend and next. You can hear more about the show from in a January behind-the-scenes interview here.
