Jason Powell, from the local sketch-comedy group The Show, has written a new piece that can only be described as a romantic sci-fi musical comedy. Invader? I Hardly Know Her! premieres Sept. 9 and runs through Sept. 26 at the Alchemist Theatre in Bay View.
Powell isn't revealing much about the show's plot, but Invader seems to be drawn from mid-century pulp magazine sci-fi kitsch. Lisa Buchmeier and Nate Press star as the soon-to-be-married Jennifer and James. A pair of alien agents (played by Parker Drew and Lee Rowley), convinced that James is a threat to the entire universe, interrupts the couple's wedding day. This sparks a chase through a government facility run by secret-agent clones, a spaceship and, finally, a place "where even angels fear to tread."
Press and Buchmeier should work well in the center of all the action. Press, who made a strong impression in Spiral Theatre's Die, Mommie, Die!, is no stranger to offbeat shows. Buchmeier is also familiar with this type of production, having appeared in last year's Cudahy Caroler Christmas.
Seven other players appear in the show as well, including talented comic actor Doug Jarecki in multiple roles-one as a robot with two different personalities, and at least one other character who becomes possessed by a demon. Rarely seen comic actress Sophia Dhaliwal also makes an appearance.
Though the Alchemist Theatre has one of the most intimate spaces in all of MilwaukeeCounty, that hasn't stopped Powell from including an Amie Losi-choreographed dancing quartet of beautiful women in the musical.
Stay on top of the news of the day
Subscribe to our free, daily e-newsletter to get Milwaukee's latest local news, restaurants, music, arts and entertainment and events delivered right to your inbox every weekday, plus a bonus Week in Review email on Saturdays.
"The melodies are kind of classically show-tuney, but the arrangements tend to get more synth-rocky," Powell says of the music. "That quartet of girls I mentioned-they who will wear super-hot fetishy outfits throughout, for no real justified plot reason-also are all great singers, and they sound fantastic on some of the four-part harmonies I wrote."
Given its feel of being a wacky, retro-sci-fi musical, there will undoubtedly be comparisons to The Rocky Horror Picture Show. But Powell, who is more a fan of Gilbert and Sullivan, says the show could better be described as Pirates of Penzance meets Flash Gordon.
