This article has been amended to correct the dates the show is being performed.
There’s a striking scene in “Spider Cult: The Musical” that involves the so-called “Spider Queen” - played by Boston-area burlesque performer Mary Widow - performing an aerial routine while singing at a full-tilt rock opera belt. It’s a stunning piece of showmanship, and a clear indication that “Spider Cult” is something a little different on the performing arts landscape.
“I tell people it’s an apocalyptic lesbian sci-fi horror burlesque musical,” says author Jade Sylvan, who wrote the play. “First they think I’m joking, then they kind of light up and say, ‘I didn’t know that existed. I didn’t know that was a thing.’ I wanted to create something I’d never seen before that I wanted to see.”
Sylvan’s certainly succeeded with “Spider Cult,” which will be staged at 6:30 p.m. and 10 p.m. June 24, and 5 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. June 26 at the Oberon in Cambridge. Sitting in at a technical rehearsal, it was as easy to become hypnotized by the raw sensuality of the play’s dance numbers as it was to enjoy the show’s camp action-fantasy elements. The play, which is directed by Boston performer Fem Bones, tells the story of a young mute woman, played by Boston performance artist Belle Gunz, and her girlfriend, played by Ginny Nightshade, on the run from the titular cult, with which she has deep ties that are revealed throughout the story.
That might sound a little offbeat, but then, Sylvan is hardly a conventional artist. Her accomplishments include the poetry collection “The Spark Singer,” the poetic prose novel “Kissing Oscar Wilde,” the indie rock album “Blood & Sand,” the novelization to the movie “Ten,” which she starred in, and the wild hip-hop persona Madame Psychosis. Really, she’s a little eclectic.
“Partially I get bored,” says Sylvan, explaining her genre-hopping, “and also I don’t like being put into a box. Honestly, it’s a challenge and I really enjoy being challenged. … I think that form and genre is a big part of the art and what I’m saying with the art, and to see what I can do with these different forms and genres is as much a part of my creative process … It’s interesting to see the commonalities that go through all the things that I do. It helps me figure out what I want to say.”
And despite the musical's seeming frivolity, there are some serious subjects underpinning the story, including issues of sexuality, consent, toxic masculinity and abuse. That said, it’s hard to consciously realize that’s what you’re looking at when you’re watching a burlesque dancer in pink fringe and a cowboy hat, and showcasing the skill of the performers was as much of a goal for Sylvan as telling a story.
“I think it came from this really great community of burlesque artists - in Cambridge especially, but across the whole Boston area - that I’ve been inspired by for years. Traditionally, burlesque shows use other people’s music and are more of a variety show. I’ve never seen one that just used original music and had a complete narrative plot line. So I love musicals and I love theater, and I thought, ‘Why not combine burlesque with the form of the musical and also create an original score?’ I love the campiness of burlesque and the drama and power an original score can bring to a piece. Plus, this is horror burlesque, which is its own genre.”
The character Scout originally appeared in a burlesque show called “Revenge of the Robot Battle Nuns,” which was originally staged at the Oberon. The score was written by Catherine Capozzi of the band Axemunkee, and the music is played by Capozzi on guitar, Sophia Cacciola of Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling on bass, and Tamora Gooding on drums.
The musical was funded through a Kickstarter campaign, and while Sylvan’s aware of how many such crowdfunding campaigns fail, she’s grateful that the campaign was able to generatge enough interest and funding to mount the production.
“We couldn’t have done it without (the campaign),” says Sylvan, “because to do something at the level where we wanted to do it ... we needed special training, costumes, a crew, to hire a band … we don’t have that budget on our own. We don’t have, unfortunately, a wealthy patron or an organization that’s going to fundraise for us … but to do this at the level that it wanted to be done we needed some amount on money. We did it still on what production companies would consider a shoestring budget, but we were able to get these things that we needed. It was great that so many people believed in us, and literally it allowed this to happen.”
Email Victor D. Infante at Victor.Infante@Telegram.com and follow Pop Culture Notebook on Twitter @TGPopCulture.
