Do you suppose now would be a good time for a theatrical parable about artists resisting totalitarianism? If your answer is yes (or even a guarded maybe) — for instance, because the U.S. today looks a lot like a reckless autocracy ascendant, and the nation’s foundational democracy looks like an endangered species — you may be gobsmacked by the lavishly produced antiauthoritarian fantasia now exploding in Spooky Action Theater’s modest church basement space.
The transformed playing area is a marvel, a stone-walled, grottolike cabaret with café and riser seating around a raised stage preset with a standing mic from the 1920s, the era we’re in. An auspicious assortment of musical instruments — keyboard, cello, drum set, electric guitar and bass — can be seen at left and right. Once the performance begins, a rock concert and light show will kick in, and eye-popping animated projections will display within three upstage arches. For Spooky Action’s first-ever musical, the design team (among them Abigail Copeland, scenic; Mike Durst and Helen Garcia-Alton, lighting; Luis Garcia, projections) has gone all out.
Settle in and be psyched for Professor Woland’s Black Magic Rock Show, featuring an itinerant band of first-rate actors who all double as excellent musicians. In circusy-cartoony costumes (designed by Herin Kaputkin), they have come to town to tell a tale that takes place a century ago in Stalinist Russia (where repressive shit happened that constitutionally is not supposed to happen here).
A fey feline character looking like Cats-cast cosplay (Jeremy Allen Crawford as Behemoth) takes the stage and introduces a ringleader reminiscent of a Cabaret-emcee hopeful in horror-show makeup (Fran Tapia as the titular and satanic Woland). And just like that, the whole company jumpstarts the show with a rockin’ (if enigmatic) sonic blast about “black magic.”
The show as a whole is a phenomenal sound machine. I wished this cast’s soundtrack album was already on Spotify. There isn’t a number that doesn’t land (music by Michael Pemberton, lyrics by Michael and Andrea Pemberton, music direction and more by Marika Countouris, orchestrations by Liam Bellman-Sharpe). Even the wireless mic’ing is great (Alec Green, sound design; Daniel Interiano, sound mixer).
After the big opener, we start to get a story (book by Jesse Rasmussen and Elizabeth Dinkova) loosely inspired by Russian novelist Mikhail Bulgakov’s banned-in-his-lifetime book, The Master and Margarita. The musical based on that novel is about a dissident writer (Camilo Linares as The Master), whose career arc in an unnamed oppressive state echoes Bulgakov’s under Stalin: The Master has been declared an enemy of the (antireligion) autocracy on account of his novel (a pro-Jesus excursus on Pontius Pilate that questions the state’s authority) and thus has been disappeared and consigned to a mental institution. The windup to The Master’s story, which requires establishing the officially suppressive context, gets a bit complex plotwise (there’s a committee of writer-censors, a capitulating editor, a decapitation that left me scratching my head…). Happily, the occasionally obscure storyline is propelled by a dynamite rock score that never stops gratifying. Even better, a love story begins, which shifts the show dramatically from an exposition of tyranny’s heartlessness to the emotions of two hearts under siege.
Enter Margarita (an outstanding Jordyn Taylor), who is in love with both The Master and his novel. She believes in him, and their connection is deep, as when they sing in a duet, “The hope of happiness is making my head spin.” Margarita is determined to rescue The Master’s “enemy of the state” manuscript, and in one charming scene, they play-act a bit of the book, The Master as Pontius Pilate and Margarita as Yeshua (aka Jesus). Their love is arrestingly tested by external threats and internal terrors, and through it all, an extraordinary theme emerges, first voiced as a precept and prophecy by Margarita as Yeshua: “All authority is a form of violence over people and … the time will come when there will be no rule. Man will pass into the kingdom of truth and justice where there will be no more need for authority.”
There’s something breathtaking and stirring about that John Lennonist imagining. And though the words arose in state-sanctioned repression, they hold a hope that could be cherished here and now.
Much credit to Elizabeth Dinkova, artistic director of Spooky Action Theater, who selected, developed, and impressively directed this major new contribution to American musical theater. Not unlike its precursors Hadestown and Jesus Christ Superstar, Professor Woland’s Black Magic Rock Show is made of great music matched to dense preexisting material. But while the underlying narrative this work draws from a Russian novel may be familiar to fewer — its story is neither Greek-mythic nor Christian-scriptural — there is no denying that this beautifully rebellious rock show has come to town at just the right time.
Running Time: Approximately two hours including one intermission.
Professor Woland’s Black Magic Rock Show plays through April 13 (Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m.), presented by Spooky Action Theater performing at The Universalist National Memorial Church, 1810 16th St NW, Washington, DC. All tickets are General Admission and range from Pay-What-You-Can to $55, with discounts available for seniors and students with ID. Purchase tickets online. Tickets for performances from March 26 to April 13 are $55 Cabaret Table Seats (includes free drink), $45 Riser Seats and a limited amount of ten $15 Economy price tickets (Riser Seats) for each performance (see website for details).
The program for Professor Woland’s Black Magic Rock Show is online here.
COVID Safety: Masks are optional.
Professor Woland’s Black Magic Rock Show
WORLD PREMIERE
Music by Michael Pemberton
Lyrics by Michael & Andrea Pemberton
Book by Jesse Rasmussen & Elizabeth Dinkova
Director: Elizabeth Dinkova
Music Director: Marika Countouris
CAST
Fran Tapia: Woland, Stravinsky, Editor, Percussion
Jeremy Allen Crawford: Behemoth, Editor, Cello
Oliver Dyer: Koroviev, Berlioz, Guitar
Danny Santiago: Azazello, Nikanor, Bass
Marika Countouris: Music Director, Hella/Frieda (thru April 6), Keys
Stephen Russell Murray: Ivan, Flute
Camilo Linares: Master, Pilate, Drums
Jordyn Taylor: Margarita, Yeshua
Lauren Janoschka: Understudy (Music Director & Performing Hella, Frieda 4/10-13)
PRODUCTION
Abigail Copeland: Scenic Design
Mike Durst & Helen Garcia-Alton: Lighting Design
Herin Kaputkin: Costume Design
Alec Green: Sound Design & Engineer
Daniel Interiano: Sound Mixer
Marika Countouris: Vocal Arrangements, Electronic Music/Playback Design, Programmer
Liam Bellman-Sharpe: Orchestrations
Luis Garcia: Projections Design
Elizabeth Dinkova: Dramaturgy
Emma Jaster: Choreographer
Robert Bowen Smith: Fight Choreographer
Sam Carolla: Recorded Drums
Maria Mills: Production Stage Manager, Intimacy/Fight Captain
Troy C. Johnson: Assistant Stage Manager
Gillian Drake: Associate Producer
Lauren Janoschka: Production Manager
Zoe Tompkins: Technical Director
SEE ALSO:
Spooky Action to premiere ‘Professor Woland’s Black Magic Rock Show’ (news story, January 27, 2025)
