Altar Boyz

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Altar Boyz is an Off-Broadway musical comedy about a fictitious Christian boy band from Ohio. It addresses and satirizes, among other things, the phenomenon of boy bands, the popularity of Christian-themed music and products in contemporary American culture.

1 The Show
2 Production History
3 Current New York Cast
4 Awards
5 Musical Numbers
6 Memorable Lines
7 External links
8 References

[edit] The Show

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

The show is presented in real time as a concert by the five-member group the Altar Boyz and their band. Four of the group's members, Matthew, Mark, Luke and Juan, are apparently named after the authors of the four canonical Christian Gospels. The fifth member is Abraham, who, the group explains, is Jewish. The members of the group address the audience directly and refer to the venue and location in which the performance is taking place. The Altar Boyz perform several songs, with choreographed dancing in the style of boy bands, and present several scenes concerning the group and its origins, as well as each member's strengths and demons, as part of the concert.

During the show, the Altar Boyz repeatedly turn to a machine on the stage, the "Soul Sensor DX-12," which has a red LED display that they explain shows the number of burdened souls in the room. Their goal, they explain, is to reduce the number on the machine to zero by the end of the concert.

Although many of the lines and lyrics in the show are susceptible of humorous or satirical interpretations, as is common in satire the performers do not acknowledge such double meanings in their performances.

The show's music and lyrics were written by Gary Adler and Michael Patrick Walker and the book was written by Kevin Del Aguila based on an idea by Ken Davenport and Marc Kessler.

[edit] Production History

Altar Boyz had its debut in September of 2004 at the New York Musical Theatre Festival (NYMF), in the 47th Street Theatre (Puerto Rican Traveling Theatre). The NYMF cast comprised Cheyenne Jackson as Matthew, Tyler Maynard as Mark, Andy Karl as Luke, Ryan Duncan as Juan and David Josefsberg as Abraham. Marc Kudisch performed the pre-recorded role of "G.O.D." The show was directed by Stafford Arima and choreographed by Christopher Gatelli. The NYMF run was limited by the nature of the festival to a small number of performances on an irregular schedule in a small theatre over a few weeks.

The show opened Off Broadway at Stage 4 of Dodger Stages (now New World Stages) on March 1, 2005, after several preview performances.^[1] The cast was as in the NYMF production, except that Scott Porter played the part of Matthew in place of Cheyenne Jackson, who was starring in the Broadway musical All Shook Up, which opened later that month, and Shadoe Stevens played the pre-recorded role of "G.O.D." As of March, 2007, the show continues in the same theatre, although with new cast members.

There have been touring productions of Altar Boyz in the United States and Korea.

[edit] Current New York Cast

As of March 3, 2007, the cast was as follows:

Matthew: Kyle Dean Massey
Mark: Zach Hanna
Luke: Landon Beard
Juan: Shaun Taylor-Corbett
Abraham: Eric Schneider

Dance Captain/Understudy: Carlos L. Encinias
Understudy: Jim Daly

[edit] Awards

The production won the 2005 Outer Critics Circle Award for Best off-Broadway Musical. It was nominated for Seven 2005 Drama Desk Awards including Best Music, Best Lyrics, Best Book and Best Musical. ^[2]

[edit] Musical Numbers

We Are The Altar Boyz
Rhythm In Me
Church Rulez
The Calling
The Miracle Song
Everybody Fits
Something About You
Body, Mind & Soul
La Vida Eternal
Epiphany
Number 918
I Believe
We Are The Altar Boyz Remix

[edit] Memorable Lines

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Abraham: "Tell them about the suprizzle later in the shizzle."

Abraham: "Mozzletozzle yo."

Abraham: "There are souls here that are still s-t-rugglin'."

Mark: "Are Jews even allowed in church?" Abraham: "I think so. I just saw one on the cross above the altar."

Abraham: "Oh, I get it. No reindeer games for the chosen people."

Abraham: "...how the group has evolved." Matthew: "Don't... say evolved..."

Luke: "Who needs a G.E.D? I got my B-I-B-L-E!"

Luke: "Oh now, Mark, don't be accusin'. For you will notice the speck in your brother's eye and not the log in your own. *turned toward audience* I think that scripture says it all... I mean, if you can't even tell you've been hit in the eye with a log, you got serious issues, man! ...A log's like this big around!! *holds hands over his head demonstrating exactly how big a log really is* You best be gettin' yourself to a hospital..."

Luke: "Yo, stay away from her Lar-- no matter how Mary Magdalicious she might be lookin'."

Mark: "One day while I was being persecuted... with Nair..."

Luke: "Yo, you need to stop getting exhausted out of your mind every night! Or you're gonna wreck the van! I mean... a van... some van... somewhere..."