Have you ever wanted to hear Mal sing about his Pandora’s Box of a heart? What about Kaylee singing about wanting to jump Simon’s bones? Or even better yet.. have you ever wanted to hear Jayne profess his undying love for guns and women through song?
If you answered yes to any (let’s get real.. ALL) of these questions, prepare yourself! The Highball is hosting Live TV again from The Institution Theater with performances all May of Joss Whedon’s fan favorite, Firefly - with a musical twist! Before the show even started, the audience was treated to a Firefly rap video called “The Browncoat Anthem” that set the tone for the awesomeness that was to come.
The episode performed was “Our Mrs. Reynolds,” and it included a few original songs by The Institution Theater played by a live band. Hearing the main Firefly theme performed live by the cast was a real treat. Now I know some people have argued that the theme is too cheesy and just plain bad, but I don’t rightly care – to me it will always tug at my heartstrings in the perfect way.
The original songs are a unique way to add a new take on the episode and make the episode more viable for the stage performance. While I did like the songs, at times they were a bit repetitive. But fun nonetheless! My favorite song was sung by Jayne and detailed how much he desired and lusted after guns and women… and women and guns. Personally, I think he preferred the guns. According to the director, songs from the performance should be available on iTunes soon.
To go along with the space western themed show, The Highball created a special cocktail that was Firefly themed. It was actually called the Serenity. While $8 might be a bit steep, the cocktail was a very tasty combination of gin, cherry herring, pineapple juice, grenadine, triple sec, benedictine, lime juice, and bitters.
It was refreshing and felt like an exotic beverage that Inara might treat a client to before.. erhm.. getting down to business.
This was a great episode for the theater to perform because it has so much humor built into the dialogue. The actors really capitalized on that humor and added in some other glances/actions that really made the performance stand out from just a stage rendition of the exact script from the beloved TV show.
If you have already scored tickets to a Live TV Firefly performance, count yourself lucky! It looks like the show is sold out for the rest of the month. And for good reason… it is totally shiny!
