Pop Punk High Takes Us Back to Better Days
The year is always 2006, your parents just don’t get you, you own a pair of Heelys and any blink-182 song is the perfect banger. This is Pop Punk High: a musical which brings you back to those mid-aughts days in a funny and waaay too relatable way.
I will say though, I was not truly pop punk in middle school. Primarily because I was not about to risk my life by playing that kind of music, loud, under my mother’s roof. Despite all that, I was still down with some bands and “Pop Punk High” managed to reach in and pull those nostalgic feelings right out.
The story basically followed a guy, Derek played by Ben Lapidus, who wants to get the girl, Amanda Bunkface played by Kelly Krauter, and be the most pop punk dude in their school. He comes across the genie ghost of Avril Lavigne in a lamp and seeks to make this all happen with the three wishes she grants him. Following many sing-a-long worthy music breaks, debate over the use of an 18 inch penis and a battle of the bands competition, there is a bit of heartwarming realization about what it actually means to be pop punk.
While the main characters were great, I always find myself paying more attention to supporting characters whenever I see a musical or play and the supporting cast did not disappoint here. The parents of Derek were by far two of the most perfectly casted and comedic aspects to the production. They played to the audience well with their dorky, white people caricatures which did rely on some tropes but in a way that was still fresh.
Of course the whole production was not without its hitches. There was a technical misstep with the music for one of the songs but this only went to show the ability of the actors. They improvised and handled it all seamlessly which left me not realizing there had been an issue until later when I was thinking on the particular moment.
Perhaps that’s the most telling of this show: it doesn’t rely on big-budget, amazing effects and sets or makeup but instead on a cast which draws the audience into a lighthearted return to angsty and awkward, but much better, days
The show is being put on at the PIT Loft and is directed by Turner Barrett Law. It is written by Ben Lapidus and NYU Tisch alum Anderson Cook, who is also known for “The Disembodied Hand That Fisted Everyone to Death — the Musical.” Tickets can be found online or at the box office of the theatre.
