Evolution the Musical

R0 NTSC

Web: http://www.evolutionthemusical.com/

Evolution the musical is an astonishing funny journey into the debate between creationism and the scientific model of evolution. As a musical it is a cross between Hair and Rocky Horror Picture show with some of Godspell thrown in for good measure. It has the rude, obnoxious humour of South Park and yet has strong philosophical underpinnings. It is camp, fun, irreverent and packed with shamefully catchy tunes – I found myself humming the evolution theme song for quite some time afterwards...

Evolution the musical explains the debate between creationists and evolutionists via the medium of two warring clans, the Blesseds, a religious sect convinced they are descended from Adam and Eve. Moralistic, anti sex and troubled by the concept fun they live in a secluded Church. They begin the show with their musical presentation of the Old Testament and who begat who, a rather fun rap type romp through Biblical history.

The other clan is the Beasties, a clan of humans who have only just evolved from the primates (one is still more fish than man). They are obsessed with sex and fighting and behave with wild abandon. They present their origins in a rather nice animated piece showing the evolutionary model according to modern science.

When one of the Blesseds comes of age, their leader, worried about her possible interest in leaving the community, goes into the jungle with a holy shot gun, especially designed for the purpose and appended with a crucifix, to kill the head of the Beasties. The Beasties petty squabbles and fun time focused on sex turns of revenge and they raid the church and take blasphemous revenge in true pagan fashion !

This leads to an all out war including a rare appearance by both Jesus and Charles Darwin !!

What can solve the dilemma ? Even Jesus and Darwin fail and they begin to fight against each other, however, when love arises between a Blessed and a Beastie things begin to change, but can they both evolve enough to save the human race ? We will have to see.

This is a hilarious musical, nicely presented with animation, great dance numbers and characters it is hard to forget. It reminds me of a hippy musical updated to a 2008 post modern feel. I thoroughly enjoyed it and certainly liked the way it poked fun at all manner of ideologues, religious and secular !

There is lots of information on the website include background on the creators, crew and development of the musical as well as galleries, a number of video clip and other content.