Super Richard World III 🍄👑

[dorchadas]

Last night I went out to Otherworld Theatre and saw Super Richard World III. "It is just Richard III but with Nintendo characters" was the tagline, and that was absolutely correct.

The play started with the GameCube boot music, and then Mario (Edward IV) and Luigi (Richard III) fighting Donkey Kong (Henry VI). Luigi handed Mario a hammer, and he smashed the building Donkey Kong had climbed and took the crown for himself. And then the others exited the stage and in a perfect Charles Martinet voice Luigi said:

Now is-a the winter of our discontent.

So that's the kind of play it was.

Pauline (Margaret) showed up occasionally to the tune of her theme song to utter curses and imprecations. Link had no lines at all, but after he showed King Luigi the body of Baby Mario and was left alone on the stage, he sadly knelt down, sadly took off his gauntlets, sadly pulled out an ocarina, and sadly played the Song of Time. All of Lord Pikachu's lines were "Pika! Pika pika!" and some other characters understood him and some didn't. Princess Peach (Queen Elizabeth) would take out her parasol and threaten people with it during her angry speeches. During scenes where Luigi received bad news, he’d look from side to side while trembling and knock his knees together. The characters all swore to Hylia and Ganon rather than G-d and Jesus. When King Luigi was inducing Link to kill the children, he pulled a rupee out and Link took it and held it above his head with appropriate fanfare. Every time Bowserham (Buckingham, of course) exited or entered the stage, he did so sideways because his shell got in the way. When King Luigi was having a dream before the final battle at Flower Field, Kirby, Pikachu, Waluigi, and the others he had executed all showed up as boos to torment him.

The final battle was Smash Brothers, completely with character introduction callouts and sound effects. Luigi entered first to give a speech while wielding his trusty vacuum cleaner. Link fought K-Rool and, after dodging an attack, the stage lighting flashed and Link performed a flurry rush to win. When Link fought against Meta Knight, Meta Knight activated Galaxia Darkness and then Link had a death scene where all his lines were "HAA! HYAAAH!" over and over again. Rosalina (Young Elizabeth) killed Meta Knight with telekinesis, and the final battle came down to Diddy Kong, son of Donkey Kong, vs. King Luigi, who cried out:

A kart! A kart! My kingdom for a kart!

Then after Luigi was stunned, Diddy Kong killed him with a blue shell.

Most of the actual dialogue was taken straight from Richard III with only minor variations on the theme of that last line--inserting "Hylia" for "G-d", references to stars or coins or barrels. Whenever Luigi signaled for everyone to leave the stage, he did it with a hearty 'Let's-a go!" and then leapt through the door. When Mario showed up after taking the throne, his first line was, of course, "It's-a me, King Mario IV!" But other than that, most lines were from the original text, and the actors did a lot with which character spoke which lines and their demeanor in doing so. Bowserham's growl, Luigi's Martinet impression, Link's silence, Toad (Lord Mayor's) screeching, all of them helped blend together the Nintendo side with the Shakespearean side. It was a lot like Muppet Christmas Carol, where the premise was totally ridiculous but they were fully committed to taking it seriously and that's why it worked so well.

As I told goodbyeomelas and drydem in the lobby afterwards, it reminded me of Warlords of the Mushroom Kingdom.

I invited worldbshiny but she couldn't make it to the theatre in time before the curtain, and when I posted about it, aaron.hosek, who's on vacation right now, was very disappointed to learn that it only runs through this Sunday. I kind of wish I had gone earlier so I could have told people about it when they had more of a chance to see it. The performance I went to was sold out, and good--they deserve the attention.

I had never seen Richard III before this production, and now I want to see a more traditional take on it. The next Stupid Shakespeare production is Pickilerickelicles, which is Ricky and Morty crossed with Pericles. I haven't seen either of those, but based on this, I'll probably go.

Comments

[grayswandir]

That is... amazing.

Amazing.

[conuly]

The only thing that could make that better would be audience participation

[dorchadas]

Like that bit in The Eyre Affair.

[conuly]

Exactly what inspired my comment.

[corvi]

I watched the trailer on the linked page, and my partner yelled, "What the hell are you doing out there?," which I think is all that needs to be said. :)

[dorchadas]

There's a trailer?

...oh, wow. Yeah, that's exactly what it was like.

[omnipotent]

The icon you used to post this is perfection.

Also, this play sounds like it was a lot of fun. Do you think you would have enjoyed it more if worldbshiny had accompanied you?

I hope you will write about the Rick and Morty/Pericles play when you go see that one, too.

[dorchadas]

Your icon makes me want to take the icon I'm using now and animate it... Maybe when I have some free time in the future.

I don't know that I would have enjoyed it more, since it's already probably my favorite theatre I've seen next year--I was going to say "in a couple years" but I went to see Fiddler on the Roof last winter--but I was really hoping she'd be able to make it. Both because she's so busy it's hard to find time to hang out (the topic of brunch came up and she was like "I'm busy until September" ) and because she's a knowledgeable theatre person I would have liked to hear her actually informed opinions!

I hope you will write about the Rick and Morty/Pericles play when you go see that one, too.

I was a little dubious about going to a play where I know none of the source material, but I told the suburban friend crew about it they almost all pledged to come on the spot, so I'll be a big city field trip and then I'll write about it!

[norfolkian]

The play sounds really fun!