‘Who let them do this?’: NU Stage’s ‘Misfits & Mayhem’ revue gets its freak on
- Kate Yanulis
- Apr 3
- 3 min read
On March 21, after announcing almost six trigger warnings, the lights in Blackman Auditorium faded as apprehensive laughter rose throughout the crowd in anticipation of NU Stage’s spring revue, “Misfits & Mayhem.”
Unlike traditional modes of musical theater, the biannual revue is a no-cut collection of numbers linked in theme rather than by plot. This semester’s was split into two parts: mischief followed by mayhem.
“The way that the NU Stage revue works is we have a one-word central theme that the show and the title and the song list are all born from,” said co‐director Alison King, a third‐year business administration major.
NU Stage members performed 20 numbers, meticulously curated to revolve around the word “freak” and follow a descent into chaos.
With canonically accurate height differences, second‐year international business major Joseph Oltman and second‐year behavioral neuroscience and philosophy combined major Bella Soderstrom opened the show as Gomez and Morticia with “When You’re an Addams,” a pointed song about what it means to be a part of fiction’s oddest family.
“‘Misfits & Mayhem’ is a show about people who don't really fit in and building connection around that,” King said.
Made possible by the work of more than 130 people, a production like this takes more than just excitement and inspiration to put on.
“We had six weeks of actual rehearsal time for pit, staff and cast to learn all of the music and the blocking,” said co‐director Zoleigh Borg, a fourth‐year human services major. “It was just a crazy whirlwind on such a small, limited timeline, but everything came together remarkably.”
The revue was chock‐full of songs about feeling different but finding community nonetheless, connecting the cast and crew as much as it inspired its audience. And without a clear‐cut narrative structure, the cast bounced between classic and contemporary numbers both above and below the stage, bringing audience members closer to full‐blown chaos with every song.
“Throughout the entire process, everybody was just having a good time. We definitely wanted the audience to feel that joy emanating off the stage,” King said. “But also, we wanted them to feel a bit scared, like, ‘Oh my god, who let them do this?’”
With a repertoire ranging from the “Tangled” ballad “I’ve Got a Dream” to a gender-bent rendition of “Turn it Off” from “The Book of Mormon,” the show set out to highlight how the same things that set people apart can be what brings them together.
“It’s really gay, this show. It’s great. It’s really freaky,” said Olive Lewis, a fourth‐year architecture major and a regular NU Stage attendee.
The pit, led by fourth‐year cell and molecular biology major Jillian Scott and fourth‐year environmental engineering major Julia Ariano, arranged songs of its choosing to continue to evoke the theme of “freak” between numbers. Notably, the Subway Surfers theme blasted in the theater, which prompted a series of giggles throughout the crowd from those who recognized it.
“I really like all the musical interludes in between each of the songs … I always [get] a laugh seeing what they’re gonna play next,” said Andrew Glorioso, a first‐year robotics engineering major at Worcester Polytechnic Institute.
One of these gripping interludes began the exciting second act. Cued in with a spotlight and a whistling flute, a cast member slowly rolled across the curtained stage like a tumbleweed, and out of the pit popped two pianists into a classic Western duel.
“I didn’t know what was happening. It was so exciting, and I got to do special lighting for it,” said lighting designer Sam Jamison, a first‐year mechanical engineering major.
For their final number, one cast member walked onto the stage singing the opening solo of “This is Me” from “The Greatest Showman.” The song built with intensity as the curtains finally dropped to reveal the rest of the cast singing along arm in arm.
“In this kind of current political climate, and also in the chaos of college, I think that a lot of people are stressed, and they need an outlet for creativity and for fun,” Borg said. “And the revue is sort of a place for people to come together and be a little bit ridiculous.”
Filled with the entire cast from “SpongeBob SquarePants: The Broadway Musical” and “Cabaret” to “The Book of Mormon” and “Freaky Friday,” the final song left audience members with a reminder that sometimes belonging comes when you let your freak flag fly.
Read the piece here on the Huntington News Website:
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