We couldn’t think of a joke about Dicks: The Musical that isn’t already in the trailer
A24's stab at the movie musical looks like a (not) deep, (not) hard, very fun time
Film News Dicks
It’s been a tough few years for the good ol’ movie musical. Dear Evan Hansen was a maudlin, miscast mess. In The Heights was beset with accusations of colorism and misrepresentation. Cats was… Cats. What’s a person with a song in their heart to do?
Luckily for theater kids current and former, it looks like a new renaissance is on the horizon. Exciting casting keeps rolling out for the upcoming Mean Girls musical adaptation. Despite shut-down and scandal, hype has only grown for Jon M. Chu’s massive, two-part Wicked adaptation. (Hey, Ariana Grande’s showmance is fulfilling a time-honored theater tradition!) And now, a new player has arrived on the scene to shake things up—potentially recreating the infamous Wicked vs. Avenue Q Tony showdown of 2004?
Enter: Dicks: The Musical.
Yup! Dicks: The Musical. And—unsurprisingly—it’s as chock full of not-so-innuendo as its spiritual, puppet-filled predecessor (or something like Book Of Mormon, if that’s more your speed). “Life’s a fucking handjob, and I only play to win,” is a real lyric that scores a big, bright dance number (you can probably guess the choreography), so that’s the energy we’re playing with here. And—far more surprising than any of the dirty humor—it actually seems… good? And well-crafted? And fun? Theater kids really are winning.
It’s clear that The Opposition alums Aaron Jackson and Josh Sharp—who penned the upcoming A24 feature based on their two-man stage show F***ing Identical Twins: The Musical—have done their homework. Take a shot from just the first few seconds of the trailer, which overflows with visual gags and in-jokes throughout. (We won’t spoil any more of them for you.) As the pair sing their get-to-know-us song (“My cock is fucking massive…” of course), posters for new musicals “Time Share,” “My Queer Lady,” and “Lube” adorn the wall—blink-and-you’ll-miss-it references to Rent, My Fair Lady, and Grease respectively. It’s like if Bojack Horseman did a musical. It’s great.
As for plot, it’s really just The Parent Trap. But with grown men. And Bowen Yang as God. And Megan Mullally and Nathan Lane as a mismatched “couple.” And two weird little puppets called the “Sewer Boys” for some reason. And Meghan Thee Stallion essentially just playing Meghan Thee Stallion. In other words, this might be the movie of the year. You’d better hold onto your crown, Wicked!
Dicks: The Musical premieres September 29.
12 Comments
Is “the Sausage Party of musical theater” a fair comparison? Because that’s the vibe I’m getting from the article.
I was thinking more “the She-Hulk twerking of musical theatRe”, but yours is more accurate
Hoo boy.
I went to music theatre school. It has been a shit few years for movie musicals. Go back to when Lala Land came out and it was a way stronger genre.
Oof. That looks aggressively unfunny.Maybe I’m just not the target audience. Hope it works out well for em, but I really have a hard time seeing this get anything better than “underrated cult box office bomb” status.
“[I]t actually seems… good?”Well, art is subjective and all, but that’s certainly not the impression I got by the end of that trailer. Still, always happy for Nathan Lane to keep getting work.
“It’s been a tough few years for the good ol’ movie musical.”Wow, that’s some serious historical revisionism after what we had in 2021 with West Side Story, tick, tick… BOOM!, Encanto, Annette, and yes, In the Heights, which was very well received.
hahahah I was about to say, first ‘graph seems to be willfully sidestepping West Side Story
Made me chuckle a few times, and I like A24 a lot from what I’ve seen in the last few years.
So…not based on the show about the Swede detectives then? Sorry , that’s a hard pass from me.
This seems to be getting handled with titanium-grade kid gloves on Twitter since Meghan’s in it, so it’s refreshing to come back here to get the straight grumpy scoop. Though, I have to admit, the sewer boys intrigue me.
Good news: you’re right that they are alumni from “The Opposition,” the short-lived late-night show on Comedy Central hosted by Jordan Klepper. Bad news: they are not alumni from the 2022 Persian film to which the included link directs us.