I am going to start this review by saying I am not a person who is particularly political or a person who closely follows the current affairs in the world of politics in other countries, but when I saw a musical had been released titled ‘Trump in space’ I knew it was something I had to give a listen to! It combines what everyone loves of cheesy and over-the-top with futuristic sci-fi elements to create one of the most unusual musicals I have ever listened to!
This musical is set 400 years in the future where, as a result of Trump’s actions, where humans can no longer inhabit the earth and are in search of a new planet to call home. The exploration is headed up by captain Natasha trump who is a direct descendant of the 45th president of America, Donald Trump. While you may think “wow what an absurd basis for a musical” (and you’d be right!) this works in the show’s favour allowing it to not take itself too seriously but also to have a deeper political message behind everything within the show. ‘Trump in space’ is obviously a satirical piece of theatre that contains comedic references and lyrics which is obviously entertaining as a viewer or in my case a listener, but as the story is about the current president of America it allows the audience to reflect on the current state of affairs and assess the effect of many of the decisions made in America. The show contains many, many references to Trump’s actions and introduced policies which are used in both a comedic manner but also in a way that allows the audience to reflect. The creators of this soundtrack and show are clearly very talented as they managed to flawlessly dance on the line between satire and political theatre in a way that is both accessible and easy for the audience to comprehend which deserves a shed load of praise!
There are only seven songs in this playlist so at first, o thought they just have only released a sample of the songs from the show but after having a look online I discovered that the show itself, in Hollywood, is only an hour long. I believe that from the music this is a show that could be staged with as much or as little staging and props with the creativity of the cast and crew would be more important. Both the comedic style, style of performance and the small cast leads me to believe that if the right for this show were ever realised intentionally, I could see many local theatre companies choosing to perform this musical. I am excited to see if this will happen in the future and can’t wait to see how vastly different each production of this will be.
The playlist opens in an extremely theatric and cheesy way which almost alludes to a community theatre feel. The opening song “stardate” sets out the show’s narrative and fills in the audience with all the information they need for the show to make sense which is exactly what it needs to do. Another highlight for me personally was the song “opportunity at all cost” which is a rock style number that was a welcomed changed to the other songs either side of this one. The main singer in this number, Rob Warner, performs this song excellently with his voice perfectly matching the nature of the show which led to a beautiful performance from him and all involved. The other highlight for me is the song “count me in” which again is so insanely theatrical it’s unreal. This number contains a tap dance break which was so wonderfully over-the-top which I now realise is a way to support the satirical nature of the show but also to remind the audience you are watching a piece of theatre. The layering of tap and different performers is excellent in this song with no part overpowering the other which is a very difficult thing to balance but the cast in this show seemed to perform it with ease and shows the talent of all involved. Despite all this, the show power contains strong language with to me was surprising. None of the other songs contains this amount of swear words as normally shows have strong language throughout whereas Trump in Space seems to only have this in one number.
Overall, this is a very clever musical that balances satire and political critique flawlessly while providing all the cheesy musical tropes I love. I would describe Trump in Space as a weird hybrid of Avenue Q and Star Trek which if that appeals to you, you should listen to the soundtrack on Spotify! I would rate this show as 4 stars but this May increase if I ever get the chance to see the show performed in real-life!
Rhysreviews 