Review of Trump in Space at Laugh Out Loud Theater

Once upon a time I went to a show and it was called Trump in Space. The book and lyrics were by Landon Kirksey and Gillian Bellinger. The music was by Sam Johnides and Tony Gonzalez. It was directed by John Hildreth, music directed by Phil Caldwell, and choreographed by Emily Brantz. It was about two spaceships in the year 2417, the liberal Spaceship California and the Trumpian USC Arizona. The Trump ship is captained by Natasha Trump (Alaina Hoffman). The Starship California's president of the day is Obama Sanders (Scott Cupper). When the California is overtaken by the Trump ship, a romance between Natasha and Obama is rekindled, forcing Natasha to rethink her current ways and prove to the Executive (Caroline Nash and Rudy Voit) that she is more than her name and that she can make her own decisions and love whomever she wants. It is about love, stupidity, and blowing stuff up...with love. I thought that this was a really hilarious show with lots of smart political comedy and catchy songs.

I really liked the witty comedy in this show. I thought the dynamics between the characters--Trump, the Executive, Lieutenant Commander Graham (Jay Gish), Commander Haley (Niki Aquino), and Lieutenant Kushner (Ross Compton)--on the Trump ship were hilarious. There was a scene in the elevator where they kept disagreeing how many lights there were in the elevator and if there needed to be one replaced. That seems to be the answer to how many politicians it takes to change a light bulb--no one knows because they just argue about it incessantly. What I like about this show is that neither side is without flaws, which I think is why the political system is so confusing. They try to separate into two different sides, even though everyone is sometimes an idiot. There are real differences, but nobody is perfect. So any idealist will be disappointed. I think this show is so smart because everything they are saying has a purpose and a meaning behind it. That's what makes the jokes so funny; they are well-rounded and relatable.

There was a gag where Natasha and Obama were trying to resist each other, but one or the other of them kept bursting into song and the other, who was doing a better job of resisting, would stop them. It happened so many times, eventually the accompanist (Caldwell) had to remind them of the rule of threes. I think this happened because Natasha and Obama finally agreed, so someone had to come in and disagree. This show is basically people disagreeing in hilarious ways. Politicians get a lot of comedy made about them. It lets politicians see the truth of a situation is less threatening ways. It is good to take political issues seriously, but sometimes we need a break from yelling at each other.

My favorite song was "Opportunity at All Costs" which was a very robotic song with some very funny choreography to go along with it. They danced around the stage singing about how they were mindless robots just doing what they were told because they didn't know what else to do. The choreography was very 80s-backup-dancer. It seemed very out of place for how those characters usually were for them to be doing a techno-robot dance, so that was very funny.

People who would like this show are people who like witty political comedy, annoying your accompanist, and Republican robot dances. I think that people should go see this show. It is a funny, musical, political romp. It lets people take a break to laugh at some of the ridiculousness of political life.

Photos: Tyler Core