Friends don’t let friends ford the river! But it’s only a game, right? Or at least it was, until Starkid made it into one of their zany, irreverent musicals. Currently appearing at The State Theater of Havre De Grace, The Trail To Oregon! (based on the old Macintosh computer game The Oregon Trail) is a trip. Period. Down memory lane, also that, but mostly just an outrageous, tongue-in-cheek, ludicrous musical mishap that will put a barrel full of belly laughs out there for all to enjoy. And better than that? It’s interactive. Ish. Directed by Ben Florian with Musical Direction by Angie Jones and Choreography by Patrick Yarrington, this insanity is whackier than a trip down Alice’s rabbit hole!
Being a send-up to musicals and a parody of the well-loved, iconic, early-90’s computer game (which usually ran out of memory and crashed before anyone could actually reach Oregon, whether they were moving at a grueling pace or not), The Trail to Oregon! is not exactly for the feint of heart. Raunchy and bawdy, with the option to be escalated even more so by the audience, this trek through absurd musical numbers in a manner similar to the actual game play is a delirious byte of insanity that will warp your childhood six ways to Independence Rock. And there’s an audience interactive option as well! With ferocious improv skills, the company of just six performers, reach out during the opening number for the names of the characters we see making their way out west to the land of hopes and dreams (just like in the original game, you get to choose the names of your party! At this performance we had such delightful names like “Shoelace” for the young son and “Little Crystal Meth” for the daughter. Other names were too profane for print!) There’s another interactive option that changes the outcome of the characters later on in the production, but since this show doesn’t run out of memory and crash like the computer game, let’s not spoil it and give it all away.
Simple scenery and impressive lighting give way to all sorts of shenanigans, alongside Izzy Masquelier’s costume selections. You get the prospectin’ hillbilly overalls for the grandpa character and the puritanical matronly dress for mother. Try not to laugh at the buffalo outfit pieces. Yes, there are buffalo! (There were in the game, right?) Patrick Yarrington’s choreography is a send-up of sorts as well, though notably is clean and well-executed. There’s some “peanuts” choreography featured in the opening number and some disco-inferno boogie movies, as well as a nod to Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” in “Dysentery World”, arguably the show’s most bizarre number. (Honestly, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas looks mild compared to that number.)
It’s all hands on deck with just a company of six and they do a wonderful job creating harmonic blends and full-bodied sounds under the musical direction of Angie Jones. Several of the numbers are group numbers, though several solos pop up throughout the performance as well and Jones leads the cast of six to glory with crisp articulation, clean harmonizing, and an overall robust and well-rounded sound, giving the illusion that there might be more than just six people involved in the cast.
Master of disguise Austin McBride plays the ‘baddie’ McDoon (possibly created specifically for this show, but also my memory’s about as good as those ’91 Macintosh computers, so he could have been a real-Bandit-King from the game…) and literally everyone else. Literally. There could be a whole paragraph spent trying to list out all the stuff he does, but please see the comment about my Macintosh computer memory. McBride is a fantastic character actor; he’s versatile and provides a great many laughs all throughout the show, not just as the Bandit-King McDoon, but also as the Baby Buffalo during “Pays to Be an Animal.” His feature in that number will have you howling with laughter and rolling in the aisles because he’s just that ridiculous.
Mo Tacka takes up the role of “Sad Old Man” (the name given by the audience at this performance for Grandpa.) With an elongated cadence of speech and slow physical shuffle, Tacka is the epitome of a grizzled and gnarled, grumpy old man, who is basically starting his stuff early on, when the opening number has to be interrupted to correct him. Grandpa says Wisconsin instead of Oregon, but when the ‘Father’ attempts to correct him, he mouths off saying he wanted to go to Wisconsin. That’s when you know you’re in for a ride. Tacka, who doubles up as Cletus Jones— the pardner of McDoon The Bandit King— has a great stage presence and the bits with the lobsters? Hilarious!
Shoelace (again, the name given at this performance for the Son character) is played by Taylor Casalena and what a performance it is. Casalena fully embodies that ‘empty-headed’ curiously ridiculous nature of any seven-year-old, especially when it comes to the mini monologues about “I Don’t Know” and watching shit bounce off the back of the wagon. The simplistic naivete that accompanies these deliveries is hilarious and Casalena has the audience all but eating out of her hand in this role. (Seriously, don’t eat out of her hand though; she keeps picking shit up and eating it.) At this performance, Casalena is even fortunate— unfortunate— depends on how you look at it— privileged enough to get to deliver the “You Gotta Go” number, and her vocals are quite impressive (you don’t get to hear much, solo-wise, from the Son character throughout the performance so this is bonus treat!)
Allie Beerman plays the Daughter (at this performance “Little Crystal Meth”) and she’s a hoot just like the rest of them. Pouting and whining and having the typical daughter-mother flare-ups and conflicts with the mother character, Beerman has you fully believing that she’s just a petulant child being dragged along for the ride. Beerman gets a lovely solo at the top of the second act— “Lost Without You”— giving her a chance to showcase her vocals as well. (Again, not much solo feature for the daughter otherwise, as most of the numbers are full ensemble songs or dominated by either the mother or father character.) She has a lovely voice that is well suited for the song.
Justin Strittmatter and Sydney Tristani take the lead, the cake, and the wagon tongs (whatever the hell they are) for this performance in their respective roles as Father and Mother. (The audience at this performance picked names too filthy and indecent to print!) Strittmatter has that undeniably winsome face that makes you want to not hate him as much as you’re bound to when you look at how everything that goes wrong is basically ‘dumb Dad’s’ fault. His vocals are robust and satisfying, particularly when he leads the company through numbers like “Gone to Oregon” and “Speedrun.” Sydney Tristani is just a scenery-chewing, scene stealing hilarity, whose facial expressions cannot be beat in this production. Just watch all of her over-the-top expressions, which can best be viewed in her slow-motion antics on the wagon during “Speedrun”. She’s got good vocal chops too, making numbers like “When the World’s At Stake” an easy-on-the-ears sort of ditty.
Just like “not-your-daddy’s-root-beer” this “ain’t-your-childhood-Oregon-trail.” Definitely recommended for mature audiences (well, audiences of 18 years or more…if you’re enjoying this sort of humor your maturity level is definitely called into question.) And remember— the slower you play, the faster you die! Hitch up your wagon, make sure you’ve got plenty of wagon tongs, and get on out to The State Theater of Havre de Grace and catch The Trail to Oregon! this summer.
Running Time: Approximately 2 hours with one intermission
The Trail to Oregon! Plays four performances through August 1, 2021 at The State Theater of Havre De Grace— 325 St. John Street in historic downtown Havre de Grace, MD. Tickets can be purchased at the door or in advance online.
