Star Trek fans far and wide hear one name and we all hear William Shatner yelling it in the same way. We're talking about "Khan" of course! Played by Ricardo Montalbán in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, the role became one of the most well-known characters throughout the Star Trek canon and has led to a lifelong love of the film for many fans. So it is shocking that we're just now getting a parody musical about Trek as a whole, specifically about The Wrath of Khan!
As someone who lives in New York, we get a lovely collection of parody musicals Off-Broadway that tackle some of our favorite movies. There was one about The Silence of the Lambs that ran for quite a while. It's a staple of the Off-Broadway scene and now we're getting our very own Trek show! Called Khan!!! The Musical! A Parody Trek-Tacular, the show is giving us all our Wrath of Khan dreams while bringing in other elements of the Trek world as well.
The synopsis for the musical (according to iO9) is as follows:
“It is 2366, and Data the Android presents his campy musical adaptation of The Wrath of Khan. In this sci-fi send-up, an older Captain Kirk is experiencing a ‘coming of middle age’ story when his nemesis Khan escapes exile and vows revenge. The ensuing cat-and-mouse game sparks an adventure that includes Vulcan tap dancing, Kirk’s long-lost son (a William Shatner impersonator), and of course… mutant space chickens!”
The musical was co-written by Brent Black, who also composed the show. Khan!!! The Musical! was also co-conceived by Alina Morgan with direction from John Lampe. The musical will have a 5-week run in New York, from May 4 to June 4, at The Players Theatre.
“Something about a Wrath of Khan musical kept nagging at me, eventually my friend Alina came up with the idea that the musical itself could be a simulation within the universe of Star Trek, which led to the concept of Data the Android presenting a ‘holographic’ musical that he programmed himself,” Black said. “A lot of episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation feature storylines where Data has to learn something through trial and error, usually going a little too far or taking things a bit too literally; the idea that he would write a musical after studying classic Broadway shows of the past opened the concept of the show even wider to include sendups of classic musicals.”
You can get tickets for Khan!!! The Musical here and for more information on the musical, you can visit the show's website! All I hope is that we get to scream "KHAN" as a collective audience at some point during the show.