10 Plays and Musicals for Fantasy/Sci-fi Geeks
‘Be More Chill’ (Sarah Kruwich/New York Times
There was a time when it was assumed that Dungeons & Dragons players, Trekkies, and their like couldn’t find their way out of their parents’ basements to make it to the theater. That time is past and theatres that cater to such aficionados find they are attracting new, younger audiences who are highly enthusiastic.
What are some plays that shake up the gaming conventions and get geeks pounding on the theater doors? Here’s a list that can launch you into the hearts and minds of your neighborhood nerds:
She Kills Monsters by Qui Nguyen. This is almost the gold standard when it comes to geek plays. Written in 2011, it is a love ballad to D&D players (that’s Dungeons & Dragons for the uninitiated) while also being a comedy with a ton of heart. Agnes loses her parents and little sister in a car crash and decides to try to get to know Tilly, her dead sister, better by completing her D&D adventure.
Fight Girl, Battle World also by Qui Nguyen. Really, we could just say any of the 15 plays by Nguyen, but let’s leave a few spots on this list for others. “Fight Girl, Battle World” is space opera at its finest, complete with lots of stage combat, puppetry and multimedia interludes. It’s got aliens, space battles and romances, all designed to take place on stage before a live audience (we still remember what that was like, right?).
Starmites music and lyrics by Barry Keating, book by Stuart Ross and Barry Keating. A musical from 1980 that received six Tony nominations when it finally made it to Broadway in 1989, it’s a musical that was before its time. A shy teenager creates a science fiction fantasy world where the Starmites are guardian angels. It’s a fun musical with lots of winks and nods at science fiction devotees.
Mr. Burns, a post-electric play by Anne Washburn. Since we don’t want to leave out the fans of post-apocalyptic fiction—or those who like “The Simpsons”—this 2012 play is one that audiences love or hate, there is little room in between for this stylized, creative experiment. A group of survivors gather round a campfire and share their memories of “Cape Feare,” an episode from “The Simpsons. It becomes a futuristic game of telephone as the audience watches how the memories morph seven years later and then 75 years later.
All Childish Things by Joseph Zettelmaier. I’m going to cheat a little here—this play about a group of Star Wars collectors planning a heist of collectibles is actually the first of a trilogy, because…Star Wars. But this romp that was first produced in 2006 at Detroit’s Planet Ant is a love letter to all those Star Wars fans who wonder what their heroes would look like in present day Earth.
The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical book by Joe Tracz, music and lyrics by Rob Rokicki. Given that this is a Broadway hit (or was until the pandemic), it might be a bit unfair to claim it belongs snugly in a niche for geeks. The truth is—there are far more geeks today than there used to be and they’re not ashamed to flood Broadway when you turn one of their favorite books into a musical (especially since the movie was entirely forgettable).
Queen’s We Will Rock You book by Ben Elton, music by Queen. Opening in 2003, this jukebox musical is firmly sci-fi. Set in a dystopian future 300 years from now where everyone dresses and acts alike, there are hat-tips to Flash Gordon and to nearly every major rock star since the 60s.
It’s also a two-hour long set-up to discover Bohemian Rhapsody by the rebels of iPlanet, led by Galileo and Scaramouche.
Of Dice and Men by Camron McNary. This love letter to D&D gamers shows that they are regular people, not just trolls who never leave their basements. A group of 30-something gamers have been playing together for years and now one of their members has enlisted to fight in the Iraq War.
Be More Chill book by Joe Tracz, music and lyrics by Joe Iconis. This is another Broadway hit that simply must be on this list. Not only is it immersed in science fiction with mind control and an alien-like AI trying to take over the world (perhaps it was friends with Audrey II from “Little Shop of Horrors,” but it stars as the main character a geek who fantasizes about being someone else and is launched on a journey to find his true self.
Spamalot by Eric Idle and John du Prez. Yes, Monty Python belongs to more than just gamers and Trekkies, but they are the ones who can probably quote you the entire Python canon word for word. They’d also be quick with an “Well, actually….” to tell you where this musical diverges from the original 1975 film it is adapted from.
It’s easy to argue others belong on this list. How can it not have any of the variations of “The Hobbit”? What about superhero musicals? Return to the Forbidden Planet? Ten is such an arbitrary number. What are your favorite geeky science fiction or fantasy plays and musicals?