CodeMonkey...THE MUSICAL

So as you know if you follow me on Twitter I had the opportunity to go to "<b>CodeMonkey</b> The Musical" last night put on by the Theatre Department at Boston College. When I first found out about the production I knew immediately I had to go. The production takes its title from the title of one of my favorite songs of all time, actually its really more of an anthem for my life, in any case the song is "CodeMonkey" by Jonathan Coulton.  Now Jonathan Coulton for those who don't know is somewhat of a geek hero who was once a software engineer and decided one day to do what he loved and make music instead. I first came in contact with his music via the internet phenomenon that was CodeMonkey and was later turned on to additional songs by the likes of Leo Laporte and Veronica Belmont. The rest is shall we say history.

Nothing I digitally scrawl here could even approach an attempt at doing the production itself justice.  What I can say first off is that I thought it was AMAZING! Far better than anything my feeble imagination could have come up with going in. As I took my seat and scrolled down the list of songs they'd chosen I was overcome with delight that they had managed to work IKEA (possibly my favorite after CodeMonkey) in some how, and let me just saw the way they did was, like the rest of the production truly hilarious.

Given that it would just be impossible for me to try and summarize the "plot" I'll try instead to impart what I took away from the expirence.  First off though compliments to the entire cast, and crew. I thought the leads who played our Hero Tom and his love interest "Attractive Lab Assistant Laura" (and yes they referred to her that way every time) were excellent.  What I keep coming back to though is the narrative.  The story is nuanced with references and details scattered throughout and you don't pickup on many of them until they've passed.  One example is that all the characters are named so they match up well with the songs.  For example there's "Manager Rob" (from CodeMonkey) or "Attractive Lab Assistant Laura" who just who happened to be named Laura so that "The Future Soon" is about her, or "Office Manager Betty" (a truly hillarious Sarah Palinesque character) for "Betty and Me." Maybe that isn't a big deal but it is cool to me how they took the music and then kind of worked backwards to create a single narrative. Another example of a kind of Easter egg that at least I didn't get until the second act is that every time "Dr. Martin" (the main evil genius Antagonist, also refered to in "Betty and Me") is mentioned you hear monkey noises.

Perhaps the biggest compliment I can pay to Luke Jorgensen (brain child of the project, writer/director) and his entire cast and crew is that the took the songs of Jonathan Coulton and brough them to life in a way that was to me 100% faithful to their zany, geeky, comical roots.  I bought it all hookline and sinker.

Once again GREAT JOB to ALL involved and I wish every geek could go see this one!