Interludes

THE HANGOVER REPORT – The scrappy and quirky new musical SPACE DOGS takes a bit too many detours to make its point

• By drediman
• February 15, 2022
• No Comments

Last weekend, Van Hughes and Nick Blaemire’s Space Dogs opened Off-Broadway courtesy of MCC Theater. Set mostly in the Soviet Union during the Cold War (with a few interludes that flip the action to the United States), the new musical primarily tells the true story of the Chief Designer, a Russian scientist who is tasked with leading the Soviet charge in the Space Race, and Laika, the stray dog who helps him win the heated competition by being launched into space on a Soviet rocket ship.

There are definite charms to the sprawling and uneven musical. The whole endeavor seems predicated on the idea of two kids (ahem, two grown men) being given free rein to run amok in the theater making laboratory, which is amusing to an extent. A lot of incident is packed in the show, which gleefully leads audiences through a few too many detours. Indeed, despite its 90 minute runtime, the musical could benefit from some editing. The pop rock score is nothing less than pleasant, but after a while – as with the show’s insistently quirky, juvenile humor – a certain generic sameness starts setting in. For all its fussiness, the show is ultimately an ode to the age old companionship between man and canine. As such, for all its flaws, the piece will likely still appeal to dog lovers, and perhaps also to history buffs interested in Cold War intrigue.

In addition to writing the piece, Mr. Hughes and Mr. Blaemire are also its stars. Hardly offstage, they take on the duties of the show’s actors, singers, musicians, puppeteers, stagehands and so forth. They also clip through the show’s endlessly inventive brand of theatrical storytelling (kudos to director Ellie Heyman) with impressive energy and precision (thanks largely to Darrell Grand Moultrie’s choreography). Interestingly, Space Dogs is actually an oddly elaborately appointed production, which somewhat betrays the relentless scrappiness of its creator/stars.

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SPACE DOGS
Off-Broadway, Musical
MCC Theater
1 hour, 30 minutes
Through March 13