Review: GROSS PROPHETS at Asylum NYC Has Cult Hit Potential

“Sit back, relax, and get ready to change your life!”

Have you been looking to improve your life? To become a better person? To make a lot of money? To definitely not join a pyramid scheme? Look no further than Gross Prophets. The interactive comedy musical, created by Tin Can Bros (Corey Lubowich, Joey Richter, and Brian Rosenthal), with music and lyrics by Angela Parrish and Ali Gordon, follows three of The Company’s top employees, who are hosting the Corporate Semi-Annual Regional Recruitment Event (with free buffet!).

Just like any corporate meeting, there’s a briefing at the beginning, presented through an airplane-style introduction video. A disembodied voice instructs audience members on how to log into the show’s website in order to participate, though many had already signed in before the show in order to purchase merchandise. Then, the presenters arrive to raucous applause - April-May June (Lauren Lopez), Todd Ankle (Joey Richter), and Bachman Turner-Underwood (Marty Scanlon).

Each of the “prophets” is given an opportunity to win over the crowd through a monologue and a song. Bachman focuses on how he has perfected his body in the song “A Man Built Better,” with Scanlon giving an unhinged and unblinking performance as a man determined to live forever. April-May appropriately sings a song called “The Season of April-May June” and works to win over the crowd as the only woman in the group. Lopez is both charming and terrifying, able to do everything the men can do backwards and in heels. Finally, Todd, seen as the “loser” of the group, begins to find some self-confidence, proudly proclaiming, “I’m No Broken Ankle.” Richter gets some of the best vocal moments in the show, getting a classic musical theatre ballad to perform. 

As the show is advertised as “interactive,” one can expect for there to be plenty of fourth wall breaking within Gross Prophets. Audience members should be sure that their phones are charged before the show, as there are several moments in which their participation can influence how events unfold. Everyone is given an amount of “chuds,” The Company’s form of currency, to spend in order to support their favorite presenter. Each of the actors also goes into the audience, encouraging them to spend their chuds and answering questions about some pretty hilarious CAPTCHAs (one is to select all six members of Maroon 5, with a hint from Bachman being, “One’s not who you’d expect!”). During one scene, Lopez hones in on one particular audience member for some very intimate audience participation, making the audience laugh with a single look at the person she focuses on. 

The songs by Parrish and Gordon are absolutely delightful, with witty lyrics and catchy music. Days later, one might still find themselves humming along to the melody of “The Corporate Semi-Annual Regional Recruitment Event,” the introductory song, or “Another Ladder to Climb,” the deceptively cheerful finale. A personal highlight is “The Fine Print Song,” in which April-May, Todd, and Bachman sing the terms and conditions that the audience agreed to when they signed up to the website. There are some really clever twists within the song, aided by visuals on the screen behind the performers.

Each performance has a special guest who is brought up to the stage to be honored as one of the top members of The Company. For the Saturday matinee, the guest was Jaime Lyn Beatty, and for the evening, it was  Charlene Kay. While both special guests are talented in their own right, they felt a bit wasted on the show, only going up for a few minutes and appearing unsure of what to do. Audience members are selected to ask scripted questions, but it appears that the guests are unprepared for them, leaving some moments of awkwardness. 

Unfortunately, both performances on Saturday were heavily affected by technical issues, which had a negative impact on the show as a whole. While it is understandable that there may be a few things going wrong in a new venue, each performance had a different issue that lasted for several minutes and threw both the cast and crew off, taking away from the immersiveness of the world of The Company. The show also ran over for both performances, ending up being more like 95 minutes than the planned 85.

Ultimately, Gross Prophets is a silly show with a clever concept, being performed by some very talented actors. Fans of Tin Can Bros will certainly enjoy getting to interact with some of their favorite performers, but those new to the production company may struggle to understand what is going on. With some work on the technological aspects and the level of interactivity with the audience, however, Gross Prophets could truly become a cult hit - pun fully intended.

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Gross Prophets ran from 2 to 4 October at Asylum NYC.

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