The Office! A Musical Parody takes the popular television series and turns it into a light and silly musical. The book and lyrics by Bob and Tobly McSmith condense nine seasons into a two-hour show, stealing scenes and dialogue directly from the series.
We are returned to the early days of Dunder Mifllin and are reunited with all our favorite characters working in Scranton. The storyline jumps around a fair amount with multiple subplots, likely because the writers were pulling from various episodes. We find out that Dunder Mifllin is in trouble because paper production just isn’t what it used to be. Offices are closing, and Michael Scott needs to find a way to save the day. We are also introduced to the idea that a documentary film crew is capturing the day to day activities of this office.
The cast does nail the essence of the characters helped tremendously by the costumes of Dustin Cross and wigs by Dee Spencer. It was a delight to see the cast made up of more women than men, something that doesn’t often happen and that the creators made the bold choice of casting a woman as Michael. Sarah MacKenzie Baron throws herself entirely into the role and is zany, fully energized and completely committed. She also has a stunningly beautiful voice so that was icing on the cake. Christian Fary nails oddball Dwight and it is sweet to watch Patrick Constant and Madeline Glenn Thomas fall in love as Jim and Pam. My favorite performer of the night was Kelsey Ann Sutton who played multiple roles and was particularly funny as Phyllis and Meredith.
The writers have done a number of musical parodies including Friends, Saved by the Bell and Full House so there clearly is a market for these types of shows. If you are an Office fan you will likely enjoy this show, but I am not sure this would work as a stand-alone piece. I didn’t watch all the seasons, so parts of the show and certain references were confusing to me. Also, certain iconic scenes weren’t done as well in the stage version and didn’t have the sizzle to elevate the audience. The cast does an admirable job and it’s worth checking out their characterizations and hearing some strong musical numbers.
Cover Photo: The Cast of The Office! A Musical Parody. Photo Credit Russ Rowland
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