Come sit right back and you’ll hear a tale, a tale of a fateful trip. Only when “The Seven Castaways” opens Sept. 5 at Hamtramck’s Planet Ant, it will be a lot more raunchy, twisted and funny in an adult way than the 1960s sitcom about the three-hour boat tour gone wrong that inspired it.
This musical parody of “Gilligan’s Island” is “not for the kids or the easily offended,” a press release on the production cautions.
“It takes the story of the castaways to maybe places the TV show couldn’t,” says Sean Paraventi, the Detroit playwright who came up with the comedy. “OK, there are seven adults stuck on this island. What could have happened to these adults in the most absurd way?”
Adds Paraventi, referencing a Tony-winning musical parody, “I think ‘The Seven Castaways,’ hopefully, does for ‘Gilligan’s Island’ what ‘Avenue Q‘ did for ‘Sesame Street.’”
It has been more than 60 years since Gilligan, the Skipper, the millionaire and his wife, the movie star, the professor and Mary Ann embarked on a brief, disastrous ride on the S.S. Minnow, only to be left stranded after a storm.
“Gilligan’s Island” debuted in 1964 as a silly, innocent TV series at a time when America was still mourning the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. It lasted only three seasons and 98 episodes, but it continues to live on in TV eternity, aka constant syndication around the world.
Paraventi, 58, who also does marketing for the auto industry, says he grew up watching and loving the show.
“It was just a huge part of my early childhood. It was a go-to TV show. I was pretty obsessed with the reruns as a small child. I would stand on the porch and sing the theme song, belting it out as long as possible. I think when I was about 5, I sang it at a talent show at Camp Dearborn in front of hundreds of people,” he recalls.
Paraventi traces his fondness for the sitcom partly to his own identification with the goofy title character played by the late Bob Denver. “I just thought it was really funny and entertaining as a child. I probably sort of related to Gilligan because I was kind of a goof and I was the youngest child and got blamed for a lot of things.”
Paraventi and his Assembly Line Theatre Company are partnering with Hamtramck’s Planet Ant on “The Seven Castaways,” which is his first musical.
The production is directed by Cassandra Svacha, Paraventi’s longtime friend and collaborator who has worked with him on past productions like a 2017 production of an edgy play about gentrification that centers on a young white couple hosting a dinner party in a Detroit house they’re renovating.
The cast of “The Seven Castaways” includes Allison Megroet, Bailey Boudreau, Dave Durham, Dez Walker, Maureen Paraventi, Alexia Allagreen and Joe Bailey.
Although Paraventi wants to keep most details a surprise for the audience, he says there will be songs about the castaways and dream sequences that were frequent storylines for the real-life show, along with tunes about secrets kept by the characters and the other side of the island.
He says Gilligan is probably the character in the parody who goes the most against his sweet, bumbling TV type.
Paraventi says the potential audience for “The Seven Castaways” isn’t limited to boomers. “I think it appeals to hardcore fans and anybody with just a vague recollection of the show. Our youngest cast member is 23 and he seems to be really enjoying it.”
Looks like the S.S. Minnow is still capable of entertaining audiences on a six-decade tour.
Contact Detroit Free Press pop culture critic Julie Hinds at jhinds@freepress.com.
‘The Seven Castaways’
8 p.m. Sept. 5, 6, 12 and 13; 3 p.m. Sept. 7 & 14
Planet Ant’s Ant Hall
2320 Caniff, Hamtramck
planetant.com
$30
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Musical parody of ‘Gilligan’s Island’ takes castaways to some twisted, funny places
Reporting by Julie Hinds, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
