Spectacular Super Colossal Gay Jesus Musical
Wealthy Theatre, Grand Rapids
Dec. 18, 8 p.m.
$10
grcmc.org/theatre, (616) 459-4788
Daniel Falicki, director of Spectacular Super Colossal Gay Jesus Musical, is certain the controversial musical won't get protested.
"Since we're so blunt with the name, I guarantee you we aren't going to get any protests," Falicki said. "Even if this does get protested -- which it won't -- we'll serve coffee outside and welcome them."
He did take into consideration the faux quotes ("Gay Jesus is so hot!", and "This is f***ing awesome!") in the musical's trailer that he attributed to West Michigan's Conservative and Christian heavy hitters, Dick DeVos and Rob Bell, respectively. Falicki admits those could get him in trouble.
"At this point, I don't even care. I'm tired of being afraid. It's like are you gonna sue me -- I have debt, I have lots of debt. If you want to sue me for my debt, take it."
He adds, "I only do this for attention, because bad news is good news. We're doing this also just to test the city."
The self-described Polish Catholic says he was immediately interested in directing when he saw the script for the musical.
"The show really can't fail in my eyes. It may be a disaster, but it's going to be a beautiful disaster," Falicki said. But, just in case, he's adding his dog into the show because "people love dogs. It's a good insurance policy in case the musical sucks."
The setting is Jesus and his dad -- God, obviously -- living in present day Utah. God has become Jesus' manager and handles his press conferences and WWJD t-shirt orders. Other than the fact that Jesus is in his mid-30s and living with his dad, life is going well for the two. That is, until Jesus meets his gay neighbors.
"Two gay neighbors move in and Jesus is very confused at this time. And God, he's the conservative dad, he's God," Falicki said. "God doesn't want anything to do with gays...Gay people are his neighbors, and that's pretty much the conflict. And Jesus is trying to not fear his dad and express what he truly loves."
In the musical, Jesus is played by 2009 Grand Award winner Stephen Grey, who describes the show as "divinely fabulous."
"It's kind of controversial, and that's what I'm all about," Grey said.
For his portrayal of Jesus, Grey has an idea of how he wants to create the character, but refuses to give too much about gay Jesus away.
"It's not going to be fabulous," he says flamboyantly, "it's going to be Jesus gay."
The musical also features Chris Eddy (of LSDudes, Chip Fundy, Fainting Generals and at least 20 other bands) and Matt Siegel (REVUE's resident foodie) as the gay neighbors, and Philip A. Anderson as God, with the music written by The Chinese People.
More than anything, Falicki stresses that the musical is supposed to be funny. He's not worried about the repercussions as a result of the controversy and is preparing for potential Karma down the road.
"Christians are taught to believe that this is God's will. Like, let everything go, I'm not going to do anything, God will decide, God will judge, He'll step in. So I think it's weird that all these Christians here are going to do everything in their power to shut it down, where if it were God's will, he'll shut it down...Remember, Karma will bite us in the ass in the future, so don't worry."
