MAKING OF THE STAR WARS HOLIDAY SPECIAL! Stage Play Coming to St. Louis

“Would you look at Lumpy! He’s sure grown, huh? And I think his voice is changing!”

George Lucas and his intergalactic entourage don’t stand a chance when St. Louis Shakespeare’s The Magic Smoking Monkey Theatre takes them on in December. The uber-talented Smoking Monkeys adapt a cult film (or TV show) into an onstage farce once a year. PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE, REEFER MADNESS, GLEN OR GLENDA, THE STAR WARS TRILOGY, THE ABOMINABLE DR. PHIBES, STUPEFY!: THE 90-MINUTE HARRY POTTER, and last year’s MAD MAX – LIVE!  have all been the victims of sidesplitting, Pythonesque parody courtesy of The Smoking Monkeys. This time these lunatic thespians are calling their show THE MAKING OF THE STAR WARS HOLIDAY SPECIAL! – A MAGIC SMOKING MONKEY THEATRE 20TH ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL!

And rumor has it that Charles Bronson will be making an appearance hawking Mandom Cologne!!! It doesn’t get any better than that!

So hop aboard the Millennium Falcon and help Luke, Leia, Han, Artoo, & Threepio get Chewbacca home in time to celebrate Life Day with his Wookie family! Originally airing just once in 1978, Magic Smoking Monkey brings this galactic and cosmically bizarre spectacular back to life, and takes you behind the curtain to witness its creation.

Featuring a kitschy cavalcade of 70s superstars like Bea Arthur, Art Carney, Charles Bronson, and other surprises – your holiday season will never be the same! Costume contest nightly – come as your favorite member of the Rebel Alliance or Wookie or Droid or Representative of the Galactic Empire or 1970’s TV personality and win! (braggin’ rights and a cheap prize!)

The play takes place December 2, 3, 9 & 10 at 8:00 PM and 10:30 PM at The Regional Arts Commission (6128 Delmar Blvd, Saint Louis, MO 63112) Ticket information can be found HERE (but the Saturday 12/3 8pm performance is already sold out!)

The infamous TV special aired on CBS and featured not only the iconic “Star Wars” characters Chewbacca, Han Solo, Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Darth Vader, C-3PO and R2-D2, but also new characters like Chewie’s wife Malla, his son Lumpy, and his father Itchy. If that’s not intriguing enough, we got Golden Girls legend Bea Arthur playing Ackmena the cantina bartender, The Carol Burnett Show veteran Harvey Korman playing a myriad of bizarre characters; and Oscar-winning actor Art Carney as electronics salesman Saun Dann, friend to the Wookiees.

The gist of the plot was that Han Solo and Chewbacca are on their way home to the Wookiee planet of Kashyyyk to celebrate the holiday Life Day, which is sort of like Christmas without Jesus and involves just a lot of awkward caroling in space with Wookiees wearing red robes and led by a very out-of-it Princess Leia played by actress Carrie Fisher.

However, on the way home in the Millennium Falcon, Han and Chewie encounter enemy attack from the Empire and are delayed. That was as close to the real movie action as we’re got. The rest feels like “Keeping Up With the Kardashians” with Wookiees.

The bulk of the show took place at Casa de Chewie. Malla is cooking Bantha Surprise for dinner with help from “The Julia Child of the Milky Way” Gormaanda, played by Harvey Korman in drag who endlessly chants “Whip! Whip! Stir! Stir! Whip!” Meanwhile, Lumpy watches holographic dancers that act like Cirque du Soleil on acid. This goes on for what seems like hours and is usually when most “Star Wars” fans cry “Uncle Owen!” Amateurs.

Who thought it would be a good idea to make this into a musical? When you think ‘Star Wars‘, do you think Harvey Korman? What will the Smoking Monkeys do with the Star Wars Special? Will Jim Ousley do Bronson justice like Lance Henrickson did in the Jill Ireland TV Bio? See for yourself December 2, 3, 9 & 10.

The Smoking Monkey’s site can be found HERE

And check out this amazing cast!:

Saun Dann – Tyson Blanquart

Bruce Vilanch – John Fisher

R2D2 – Hunter Fredrick

Leia – Amy Kelly

Vader – Nick Kelly

C3PO – Brie Howard

Lumpy – Scott McDonald

Chewie – Rob McLemore

Boba Fett – Shannon Nara

Han – Jim Ousley

Luke – Duncan Phillips

Itchy – Jason Puff

Lando Calrissian – Ron Strawbridge