Review of Otherworld Theatre's Moon, Prism, Power! A Sailor Moon Musical

Once upon a time I went to a show and it was called Moon, Prism, Power! A Sailor Moon Musical. It was adapted and directed by Tiffany Keane Schaefer and the music was by Whirlwynd. It was a parody of the tv show Sailor Moon, which is about a high schooler named Serena, who is pretty clumsy and boy-obsessed, who one day meets a cat, Luna (Carrie Campana), who reveals to her that she has superpowers that turn her into Sailor Moon (Dani Mohrbach). And she has to fight evil from the Negaverse so they don't take energy from everyone. To defeat the Negaverse and its ruler, Queen Beryl (Grace DeSant), Sailor Moon has to find all the other Sailor Scouts: Sailor Venus (Mary-Kate Arnold), Sailor Mars (Cecily Campbell), Sailor Mercury (Katy Jenkins), and Sailor Jupiter (Magdalen Kay). She goes on a mission with her cat to find them. She meets a handsome stranger, Tuxedo Mask (Gaby Fernandez), who adopts many disguises. This show is for a very specific type of person: a person who could watch hours and hours of Sailor Moon and be content to see a live action version of the story-arc episodes of the show with some songs and jokes added.

I think Tuxedo Mask is absolutely hilarious. He throws roses at people and knocks them out. He does this thing in disguise as Darien where whenever he walks into the room he takes off his sunglasses and they play this screaming rock star sound effect. Everyone in the audience was cracking up because Darien is practically winking at them and saying "I'm Tuxedo Mask," but no one on stage sees it even though it is obvious. There is a love triangle where Darien and Sailor Mars bond over how they make fun of Sailor Moon, but Darien is actually Tuxedo Mask who is in love with Sailor Moon. It is kind of a weird way to show the bond between Sailor Moon and Sailor Mars by having them have the same boyfriend just in different disguises. One of them has to give him up eventually, which shows us that even though they seem like sworn enemies, they actually do care about each other.

I feel like the villains--Queen Beryl, Zoicite (Arnold), Kunzite (Jacob Bates), and Nephrite (James Martineau)--in this show are the most interesting characters because they have the most interesting backstories and motivations for everything. The actors did a good job showing that the character was serious about what they were saying even if the actor might be making fun of what the character is doing. Queen Beryl was the most badass character, even though she mostly just sends people out to do her dirty work, because she has a motivation: to collect all the energy from everyone. And also when she doesn't like what someone does, she will kill them. She is pretty over the top, but she knows what she wants and is going to get it. Sailor Moon frequently complains about how hard it is being a Sailor Scout and how she doesn't want to do it anymore, and then Luna will tell her she has to do it. But with Queen Beryl, she wants that energy; she is her own self-motivator. I think it is more fun to watch because it is someone taking control. There is also a villainous couple, Zoicite and Kunzite, who are very over exaggerated from the original show but in a hilarious way that draws attention to every little hint they drop in the tv show about their relationship. And they make each hint very blatant, and there are innuendos galore. Every time both of them walk into a room together, they are very supportive in a strange and sexual way that is very hilarious.

I did have some problems with this show. I feel like since this was a parody, it didn't have to be three hours long. I think everyone who would be interested in coming to see this show already knows basically what is going to happen. So you don't have to explain every episode where a Sailor Scout is introduced. You could condense that so that each character didn't have a dedicated episode, and things could get started more quickly. Of course in the tv show they didn't condense these episodes, but they didn't expect you to be watching it all in one sitting. In the tv show, all the Sailor Scouts say "Whatever Celestial Object They Are, Power!" and transform. But of course they can't just twirl around and magically have a different outfit on onstage. So what they do instead is they go backstage and change while music is playing. That takes a little while, so sometimes you felt like you were looking at a blank stage for a really long time. I feel like if they had found a way to wear the sailor costume under another costume that was easy to slip off while onstage, it would have seemed more like a transformation. If they had to change offstage, it would have been cool if they had projected a shadow of the spinning Scout on the curtain so it seemed like they were doing the amazing transformation that they do in the tv show. I think shows can be very long but still enjoyable. But when it comes to something that has a pretty limited plot and a lot of repetition, getting it more fast-paced is vital.

People who would like this show are people who like taking energy for the Negaverse, sailor love triangles, and surprisingly painful roses. This show had a very short run, so you'll have to catch a remount if you want to see it. I think this show has some funny moments and performances and seems like a lot of fun for very dedicated Sailor Moon fans.


Photos: Otherworld Theatre