12/29/2023 0 Comments Laika the space dogWithout this move toward humanizing dogs, however - including having this show's version of Laika worry about whether he could "be of service to my country or a man," as he sings in the song "Getting Me High" - Space Dogs wouldn't have much of a narrative or emotional through-line, especially once Laika's own terminal fate is revealed towards the end. Van Hughes and Nick Blaemire manipulate puppets in Space Dogs. ![]() They also anthropomorphize them, giving them dialogue and personalities - including one hard-boiled dog seen smoking a cigarette - in the manner of a kids' afterschool special, save one or two off-color lines of dialogue to make it seem more "adult." This conceit may be a symptom of their apparently worshipful reverence toward dogs, as evidenced by the number "A Brief History of Dogs," with their frequent refrain "dogs are our saviors," punctuated by myriad projections of various breeds. For Blaemire and Hughes, it's not enough to just have puppets play some of the dogs that were involved in the early days of the Soviet space program. It's the puppetry, however, that also illustrates the line that Space Dogs walks between agreeably quirky and insufferably twee. The most noteworthy aspect of Heyman's production, however, is Amanda Villalobos's puppet and props design, with Laika and other dogs represented by puppets operated by the two stars, and box fans used as miniature versions of centrifuges, among other inspired bits of stage business. Mary Ellen Stebbins's fluid lighting gives the show an appropriately otherworldly atmosphere throughout. Some of those projections include imaginative use of onstage cameras and green screen to put Blaemire and Hughes in Soviet newscasts and other such older settings. Production designer Wilson Chin has surrounded Blaemire and Hughes with large subwoofers set up arena-style, with some of those speakers set up backward, offering a surface for Stefania Bulbarella and Alex Basco Koch's colorful projections. ![]() That enthusiasm is reflected not only in the two stars' sheer energy level throughout the show's 90 minutes, but in the ceaselessly inventive stagecraft on display in director Ellie Heyman's production. Nick Blaemire and Van Hughes star in Space Dogs at MCC Theater. And on a more metatheatrical level, Space Dogs is a testament to Blaemire and Hughes's filled-to-bursting enthusiasm for the subject, expressed via a two-performer musical with pleasant songs that range from satiric to mournful. But the musical is also a broader recounting of Cold War tensions as manifested in the space race that developed between the United States and the Soviet Union during the 1950s. ![]() Space Dogs is, on one level, about Laika, the famous Russian dog who became the first animal to orbit the earth in 1957. What isn't in doubt is the inherent fascination of its subject matter. ![]() Based on the amused audience laughter I heard throughout the performance I attended, though, your mileage will undoubtedly vary. I found it overbearing from the start, when the two creators/performers come onto the stage and immediately start tossing toy puppies at the audience. Some might find Nick Blaemire and Van Hughes's new historical show charming for that reason. It's the kind of show that feels a need to jazz up a potentially dry subject with an excess of flashy technique and cutesy antics. In the spirit of a show that makes a niche NPR joke in introducing one of its songs, one way to characterize the new musical Space Dogs is as the theatrical equivalent of the popular NPR science podcast Radiolab.
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