Hobo the Musical: A Fight for Survival
March, July, September 2006, Theatre 99
College of Charleston student and Theatre 99 member Henry Riggs’ original stage production Hobo the Musical may not have been the most serious play produced in Charleston last year, or the most well-acted one, or the most well-sung (hey, I’m not telling you anything he wouldn’t). But that was purely by design. Like every musical, Hobo‘s plot is fueled by both live music numbers and narrative dialogue. The result — when it premiered at Theatre 99 in March 2006 — was a sophisticated, hilarious theatrical production that drew as much from Tenacious D as it did Monty Python.
Hobo is the story of a community of wisecracking vagrants in the fictional town of Justice, all shepherded by hottie superhobo Nibbles and her mooching ex-lover, Kenneth. Tired of their panhandling ways, Kenneth tries to lead the hobos in a defense against the evil mayor of Justice, who aims to clean up the city by dispatching his goons to secretly bump them off one by one. (Try not to think too hard about the ethnic cleansing implications.)
Riggs wrote the musical with barista friend Chris Gingrich and fellow T99er John Brennan (see Best Actor/Comic, page 49). After the Charleston debut, they took it on the road to Chicago, where they workshopped the show at the up-and-coming Playground Theatre, then brought it back home for another go in the summer and again last fall. Locals will have one more chance (very possibly their last) to catch Hobo fever next weekend, when an all-new version of the musical, with additional songs and scenes, takes over CofC’s Theatre 220 for a Center Stage run (March 14-17 at 8 p.m.). Real hobos get in for free, naturally.
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