Attack of the Giant Nuts's topics - tribe.net

Giant Nuts in the press..... Ouch!

PodMan — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 23:20:04 GMT

The first and so far only review of the show, from the OC Register, by Eric Marchese:

"Scott Keister's original rock-and-roll musical "Attack of the Giant Nuts" has flashes of potential and, in its world premiere staging at The Hunger Artists Theatre Company, it occasionally strikes a glancing blow with something intriguing.

On the whole, though, this retelling of "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" offers leaden comedy in place of the one thing that might actually goose this production: genuine scares.

Lacking any sort of overarching vision, "Giant Nuts" isn't freaky or weird enough to really terrify us in the way the original does, yet it also fails as parody, lacking the kind of off-the-wall wackiness that would score as comedy.

The joke, of course, is in more than just the suggestive title. Instead of the pods of "Body-Snatchers," we have giant-sized peanuts. Yet, even the most obvious jokes are bypassed. A psychiatrist character never alludes to any of her patients at "nuts," clones aren't called shells of their former selves, and when our heroes smash a patch of oversized peanuts to bits, no one says a word about peanut butter.

Here and there, Keister finds something ripe for parody, as when he suggests that a national election has been nullified and President Bush has been instated to a third term – but this tantalizing thread is poorly developed. The possibilities for genuine horror, or genuine humor – or both – are nearly endless, but "Giant Nuts" skirts them all.

Buried within "Giant Nuts" is the nugget of a great idea: That we've become so apathetic a society that outer-space pods able to replicate individuals could land on earth, kill people and take their place, yet no one would notice any change.

And yet, Keister isn't a skilled enough writer nor director Jeremy Gable's cast skilled enough to be credible as soulless humans. As if to duplicate the laughably inept theatrics of the typical '50s sci-fi flick, the show's dozen actors are stunningly bad – only, not in a way that parodies Grade-Z movies.

Gable struggles to make something coherent of this melange of humor, horror and sci-fi. The general sensibility is camp, yet Keister's humor is slack, Gable's staging is clumsy and the pacing is flabby and erratic.

Keister himself is a likable bloke as Milo Bennett, the town doctor. As his high school sweethearts, whom he's desperate to reconnect with, Christina Acero's most obvious characteristic is her off-putting sarcasm – yet this trait neither makes us admires her wit nor prompts us to laugh.

Acero's real strength is her durable vocal style. As a singer, Keister isn't quite at her level, but he's able to keep up with her. Acting-wise, this duo is another story. They have no on-stage chemistry, which results in zero romantic tension between their characters.

From a musical angle, "Giant Nuts" suffers a fate similar to the troupe's 2005 staging of "Hedwig and the Angry Inch." Intimate, black box venues need a delicate balance between vocals and live music – especially rock. Whenever music director-guitarist Tom Ring, drummer Treve Misemer and bassist Erik Carlsson crank it up, they drown out the unmiked cast's singing.

Keister is a talented songwriter, and in some of the show's best numbers, one can almost see whereas he's trying to go. Acero and Keister harmonize well in "We Never Quite Did It," which has a pleasingly melancholy undercurrent. "Nasty Ass Surprises" has a harsher rock style and an ironic edge.

The songs "Weird S*** Going Down" and "Just a Little Paranoid" capture the fears of the plays heroes, while "No One Gives a Crap Anymore" delivers incisive lyrics about the U.S. having become a wastelandof pollution, strip malls and apathy. The effect of these songs, though, is blunted by the script's fuzzy vision.

So, how best to describe "Attack of the Giant Nuts"? Bizarre? Yes. Comedic? Not especially. Pointless? Definitely."

For the record, we had not had a chance to rehearse with a new sound system when this guy saw the show, opening night, so the singing was buried beneath the band. We fixed that the next day. Also, the whole audience was laughing themselves silly that night, so Marchese may have been the only guy who didn't think it was funny. But he is entitled to his opinion. I actually agree with a number of his comments.

posted in Attack of the Giant Nuts - 2 replies

Official Hunger Artists Movie Trailer....

PodMan — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 07:40:46 GMT

http://youtube.com/watch?v=K5Abh7UMQrk

posted in Attack of the Giant Nuts - 4 replies

Have you seen it????

shhhh — Sat, 13 Oct 2007 19:09:00 GMT

You must...
It was so much fun!

PodMan is a brilliant writer..... you just GOTTA SEE IT.... c'mon!

HURRY....
QUICK.....
MUST SEE....

PodMan you did a great job .... I can't wait to see it again ....

posted in Attack of the Giant Nuts - 3 replies

I swear, this show is cursed

PodMan — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 20:46:45 GMT

It's one thing after another with this show.

We never did fully complete the cast, which started off with me being drafted into the lead role, only adding to my overall stress level.
Then three cast members dropped out. We managed to fill 2 of those roles recently, but one can't be there opening weekend, so the director has to fill in for him. Another one of our leads can't be there closing weekend, so we had someone else lined up to fill in. Now our fill-in has dropped out so we need to find someone else.

Then yesterday I found out the theater company that was going to loan us their lavalier mikes can't let us have them until after opening weekend, so we have to scramble for mikes now for our opening.

The guy who is supposed to be building our props has not been heard from except to say he hasn't given it any thought yet, and he'll get to it next week.

I'm on the third director, as the first two dropped out, the second only a few weeks away from auditions.

I keep thinking: is it something I'm doing wrong here? What is going on with this show? By the time it is finally up and running all this will be forgotten about, but meanwhile I'm not sleeping and still trying to learn my lines.

I hope it's all worth it.

posted in Attack of the Giant Nuts - 7 replies

yay! We finally have a full cast, with two weeks to go.

PodMan — Sat, 29 Sep 2007 18:31:07 GMT

My friend Joe, who I wanted to be in the show all along, agreed to do it. In fact, he really wanted to do it, he just has a wedding to be at opening weekend. So now my director has decided he is going to fill in the missing roles on opening weekend. Only fair; if I have to be in it, he should too.

Full steam ahead!

oh.....we still need a keyboard player.....

posted in Attack of the Giant Nuts - 6 replies

YOU'RE NEXT!

PodMan — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 00:27:27 GMT

They're already here.

posted in Attack of the Giant Nuts - 3 replies

Did you see it ??

shhhh — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 21:48:57 GMT

Last night... on late night TV..... yeap the very first from the DVD series..........

NUTS Gone Wild

A bunch of crazy NUTS running wild in the streets..........drunk.......nekkid...... and can be yours for only $19.95 plus s&h........

posted in Attack of the Giant Nuts - 3 replies

Here's the Scoop

PodMan — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 00:35:42 GMT

Auditions are over. Rehearsals begin tonight.
We failed to come up with an actor for the leading male role, so the director cast....

ME!

I was hoping to avoid this. As much as I'd love to have a leading male singing role in any show, I was really looking forward to just rocking out on guitar in the band, and not having to memorize lines, even if I wrote them. But necessity calls, and there was no one else available. My first director wanted me to play the lead, too, so maybe I'm just destined to this. Just when I thought this whole process was going to start being fun and no pressure, suddenly I'm thrust in to a situation of low confidence, namely: I'm less than thrilled with my singing voice, which is why I never wanted to play the role to begin with.

So now I'm out of my comfort zone. It's put up or shut up, damn it.

posted in Attack of the Giant Nuts - 3 replies

Nuts Nuts and More Nuts...

shhhh — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 17:14:44 GMT

I hear a certain Nut made his way to the casting couch.......

Yup......that's what I heard.....

posted in Attack of the Giant Nuts - 3 replies

It's Under Your BED!!!

PodMan — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 07:04:11 GMT

No, not your missing vibrator....

What or who is your favoite horror movie monster?

posted in Attack of the Giant Nuts - 19 replies

Cuz sometimes you just feel like a nut.........and sometimes you don't

shhhh — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 05:36:48 GMT

List the things ya do with nuts:

hmmmm
You can bust a..........nut
you can crack a .........nut

posted in Attack of the Giant Nuts - 6 replies

Nuts nuts nuts nuts..........

shhhh — Mon, 20 Aug 2007 20:46:10 GMT

we're all a little nuts.....

posted in Attack of the Giant Nuts - 4 replies

Attack of the Killer Tomatoes....

chumtastic — Sun, 19 Aug 2007 17:49:56 GMT

attack..... of the killer tomatooooooesss...................

hee hee hee!

posted in Attack of the Giant Nuts - 2 replies

Giant Nuts ... no sweat

PodMan — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 14:52:24 GMT

Finally have a director attached to the show. the Artistic Director of my theater company has stepped up.
We found a drummer for the band. Still looking for a bassist.
Also need a costumer and lighting designer. but other than that, we're looking pretty good.

Auditions have been set for Sept. 1 and 2 at the theater and I have a karaoke machine to borrow (after I'd just bought one off e-bay).

The lesson I'm learning from this experience is just to wait a little longer. As soon as I start stressing, it means something good is about to happen.

posted in Attack of the Giant Nuts - 3 replies