Pre-Fringe Profile: Gilligan: A Tropical Musical

SHOW TITLE: Gilligan: A Tropical Musical
PRODUCER: Literally Entertainment Productions
SHOW DESCRIPTION: From the team that brought you “Oregon Trail: A Musical” comes a new musical that celebrates and re-imagines one of television’s founding fathers, Gilligan, and his three-hour tour that changed American history
WHAT CAUGHT MY INTEREST: Mashups are everywhere at Fringe. A Hamilton/Gilligan’s Island mashup was sufficiently weird to catch my attention.
INTERVIEWEE: Kyle DeGoey (composer/lyricist/co-director)

Just who do you think you are, anyway?

I’m Kyle DeGoey, one of the Co-Creators, along side the ever-so-talented Travis Carpenter, of this year’s Fringe show ‘Gilligan: A Tropical Musical.’ This is Literally Entertainment Production’s 2nd time at Fringe. We hope to follow up last year’s production of ‘Oregon Trail: A Musical’ with another amusing, entertaining show. 

So what’s the big idea?

‘Gilligan: A Tropical Musical’ is a parody retelling of the television hit, “Gilligan’s Island’. We’ve taken these iconic characters from the past and mashed it up with a contemporary musical score in the stylings of Broadway’s sensation ‘Hamilton: An American Musical’. We’ve integrated common themes like legacy and heroism while staying true to the absurdity of the show.

How did you come up with a screwy idea like that?

“Gilligan’s Island” was a celebration of the idea that television is a vast cultural wasteland. Hamilton is trans-formative because of its approach to history and meaningful events. The juxtaposition of the two styles was an interesting thought for us.

Why should I care?

With everything people have going on in their lives, we want to provide a place where people can come to escape into a familiar world of laughter and enjoyment, even if for only 50 minutes. It’s good old-fashion fun. We try to put together a show that we would like to see. And we hope you do too.

Justify your show’s existence in haiku form.

For fun and laughter
Gilligan and Hamilton
Better than Reese’s

Questions? Comments? Enraged invective? Check out my answers to occasionally asked questions in Notes on Notes, or the contact info linked from that page!