From a purely personal point of view, the saddest thing about my visit to Space Dogs at The Other Palace Studio was that, due to my excessive age, I actually remember the dog Laika being put into orbit by the Russians in 1957 and thus claiming that they had won the Space Race with the United States by flying, for the first time, a living being into orbit. In my childhood, and in those long-lost days of the 1950s, it was actually quite a big deal.
Space Dogs is a satirical musical take on the Space Race put together by two, far too talented for my liking, writers and actor-musicians, Nick Blaemire and Van Hughes. They are seasoned American musical theatre performers along with their director Will Blum, and between the three of them they have an impressive CV and portfolio of credits under their belt. The show that they present is one which has already been performed Off-Broadway with great success and is the subject of an original cast recording (which I located on my streaming platform and played on the train home).
It’s a small-scale exercise, but none the worse for that, and Blaemire and Hughes play all the characters in the story. Strangely, though, it seemed to me, at least, somewhat old-fashioned. Again, because of the expertise, talent, musicality and writing of the piece, it is, again, none the worse for that. Why do I say old-fashioned?
When you have been around as long as I have, you realise that everything comes full circle. The style of Space Dogs in its presentation and in its soft rock score, in which there were, at my count, some sixteen numbers performed over the course of an hour and a quarter, represents an example of the counterculture shows of the 60s and 70s, Hair being the prime example, although many other shows which I have seen but readers may not have, fall into that category. I think in particular of such shows as I’m Getting My Act Together and Taking It on the Road, The Last Sweet Days of Isaac, and Your Own Thing. For many readers these names may mean nothing but, in the day, they represented a youth-driven dramatic, sometimes angry and colourful shift away from conventional musical theatre up to that point.
In Space Dogs, there is a satirical number about Wernher von Braun, the brilliant yet highly controversial German-American aerospace engineer, rocket scientist and space architect. But some sixty years ago, von Braun had already been immortalised in Tom Lehrer’s scathing satirical song, also titled “Wernher von Braun”, a biting critique of the German rocket scientist’s shifting political allegiances and moral compartmentalisation. So I hope you see what I mean when I say everything comes full circle!
Within its short time frame, Space Dogs both educates and entertains with edgy satire, jokes and a very solid score played by the two performers on both guitars and keys, and backed by some excellent sound production. It is essentially a musical cartoon, a caricature of the prevailing East-West attitudes of the 1950s during the Cold War and the history and politics of that time. It is executed in a variety of styles, both narrative and dialogue, and with the enchanting use of cuddly toys to represent the dogs sent, possibly, to meet their maker.
You may think, reading thus far, that this is a hard-edged satire but at its root there is a rather charming sentimentality and concern for the dogs and their welfare. A relationship is sketched between the ‘Chief Designer’ Sergei Korolev (Hughes), the rocket engineer who drove the USSR to historic milestones during the early Space Race, and the animals in his charge, particularly Laika, a stray dog whose ultimate fate was not revealed until 2002.
Indeed, some of the numbers and the narrative come from the point of view of the dogs. Laika describes herself as, “the loneliest dog in the world” and opines, “sometimes you must trust just to see trust”. This display of sentimentality is not kitsch, not cheap, but deeply felt. The entire show is packaged and presented with flair and focus, and the performance of Blaemire and Hughes is directed and staged with the precision that we expect from an alumnus of American musical theatre.
In short, it is a smashing way to spend an evening. It is unusual, entertaining and packs into its short running time some terrific content. Thoroughly recommended.
Listings and ticket information can be found here
