Holy Crumbs! MOT's Doc Danger and the Danger Squad is Back -- on the Radio!
Holy crumbs!
Milwaukee Opera Theater’s musical homage to pulp fiction magazines is back, in an all new, COVID-19 safe format. After debuting at Broadway Theater Center in 2018, Doc Danger and the Danger Squad has transitioned from live theater performance to an “old time” radio show. Instead of one evening filled with intergalactic evil-doers and sensational superheroes, the re-imagined comic book opera – written, composed and narrated by Jason Powell – is now four, 45-minute audio episodes which will air on successive Thursday evenings through July 16.
In adapting Danger to this new medium, MOT Artistic Director Jill Anna Ponasik tried to change as little about the production as possible. In fact, most of the original cast is back for the remount. “One of our drivers was to employ as much of the original team as humanly possible, so roles remained intact,” she explained. “And structurally, we did not rewrite the show. Songs occur in the same order.” But there were a few edits, made out of necessity. “We did add narration to assist with story tracking, and to tilt us a little further into the universe of the pulps.”
In lieu of the lights, projections, campy costumes and minimal sets that the first production used to tell the story, the radio show depends on Powell’s embroidered prose and heightened delivery, to describe the action, setting, and characters to listeners. Fortunately his text and his voice fit the genre and it’s easy to build the worlds he describes in the mind’s eye. To create a more musically rich and textured audio, Powell also added back-up tracks to five of the songs, which were solos in the original production.
But the key to a modern audience’s delight in radio dramas is the sound effects. For that, MOT called on the foremost percussionist and connoisseur of odd noisemakers in the Milwaukee area – Michael “Ding” Lorenz. A regular in the pit orchestra at Skylight Music Theatre, Lorenz recently showed off his extensive collection of percussion instruments from around the world and a quirky group of gizmos that create Foley effects in a solo production called Things That Go Ding. “We added him to the production team mix to create soundscapes and effects for us,” Ponasik explained. “That work all had to get done in about six weeks while we were also figuring out how to work with the cast in 14 different locations.”
Sound cues and incidental music for the four episodes were recorded in only two sessions at Lorenz’s warehouse. “I LOVED using weird, antique, acoustic instruments to create the ambient sound for this project, rather than buying pre-made digital effects,” Ponasik gushed. “The sound under the first few minutes of Episode 1 is actually made by a set of tuned crystal glasses. Ding plays a Theremin in Episode 2 and the laser gun sound is a children’s toy called a Zube Tube.”
Though the radio series was not in MOT’s original plan, the characters occupying fantastical worlds – from mutants in outer space, to cowgirls rescuing a damsel who is tied to a railroad track, to deranged scientists and mysterious femme fatales – fit right in to the melodramas broadcast for radio rather than TV.
And in some ways this medium succeeds where the stage production did not; in the listener’s imagination, the costumes, sets, and props are perfect, the fight choreography is exceptional and the pacing is on point. The performers, who come from a predominantly vocal music background, can focus more on their diction, melodies, and harmonizing rather than the timing of their entrances and blocking.
After listening to the first episode, it’s clear that all of the voices in Doc Danger are bright and strong; listeners get the sense that the singers could have handled much more musically complicated songs than the ones Powell created. The lyrics, on the other hand, are sometimes stuffed into measures and rhythms that can barely hold them. And in an overwhelmingly female cast, it is sometimes difficult to distinguish characters from one another. A bit more “voice acting” would have helped tremendously.
An unexpected “side effect” of producing this story during a global pandemic is that certain lines hit the ear differently. It’s jarring to hear that Doc Danger is in peril at the hands of Dr. Z, who has her hooked up to an IV that is dripping a deadly virus into her veins. And equally jarring that her super health is one of her powers. Similarly, evil scientists seem so dated while the whole world holds its breath, waiting for a lab to come up with a vaccine. Fortunately the dissonance subsides by keeping story in its original time period and context.
When asked about persevering with this version of Doc Danger at a time when so many other performances have been canceled, Ponasik said, “It’s definitely an act of defiance to COVID-19!” She added, “We knew early on that we wanted this to be something with the lowest barriers possible to enjoy. So there are no tickets, no passwords, no fees. It’s easy to listen – just hit play on your computer screen.”
In the ever cost conscious world of non-profit arts, MOT has even prioritized making art over breaking even. “We don’t expect to cover costs for the production. But donations will help defray the expense of the artist fees,” she said. Anyone interested in supporting MOT and the radio version of Doc Danger and the Danger Squad can make a gift on the company’s performance page at milwaukeeoperatheatre.org, and donors of $25 or more will be recognized with a link to the original cast album once it is fully mastered.
So tune in on Thursdays, true-believers, and follow the adventures of Doc Danger – and MOT – as they fight against evil forces in the universe.