EDINBURGH 2023: CHRISKIRKPATRICKMAS Q&A

BWW caught up with Alison Zatta and Valen Shore about bringing Chriskirkpatrickmas to the 2023 Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Tell us a bit about Chriskirkpatrickmas.

Chriskirkpatrickmas is an original musical comedy about Chris Kirkpatrick from *NSYNC. Our story begins on Christmas Eve 2009, 7 years into *NSYNC's indefinite "hiatus", when Chris - who is still holding onto his boy band past - is given the chance to make a wish that could change his life forever. This parody musical is a laugh-out-loud exploration of identity and what might happen on the other side of a dream come true.
 

Is it still accessible to those who maybe don’t know as much about *NSYNC?

Our narrative structure is a mash-up of It's A Wonderful Life and A Christmas Carol, and Chris is our George Bailey/Scrooge, so there's a built-in opportunity to tell *NSYNC's story from the beginning. We did an absurd amount of research to make the show as historically accurate as possible, and there are plenty of references for knowledgeable boy band fans to catch. But if you don't know anything about *NSYNC or boy bands going in, that's totally fine too. You'll know a lot more on your way out!

Who is involved in the creative team?

For a long time it was just us (Valen and Alison), writing songs like "Hello Justin" and "Boy Band Song", trying to make each other laugh. We wrote the lyrics and book together; Valen composed the music and Alison polished the book. Then sound designer Joshua Millican (SIX The Musical; The Band’s Visit) came onboard, and Joshua introduced us to Taylor J. Williams (Hamilton; Moulin Rouge!; Ain't No Mo), who created the orchestral arrangements and is now our music director. Our cast is a multi-talented group of female and non-binary actors (playing *NSYNC!) who we've known and worked with on several projects in the past: Elizabeth Ho, Emily Lambert, Mia-Carina Mollicone, Nicole Wyland, and Riley Rose Critchlow, who is also our assistant director. Most of our team - including stage manager Hannah Cairo, lighting designer Gregory Crafts, and choreographer Lili Fuller - have been involved with the project since its debut at Hollywood Fringe.

What would you like audiences to take away from it?

A Christmas lesson, of course. And maybe a new appreciation for Chris Kirkpatrick, who doesn't always get the credit he deserves for founding *NSYNC.

What are your hopes for the show after the Fringe?

We'd love a London or New York transfer -  the chance to bring the show to more audiences, and also to develop it further. We have an "expansion pack" of songs and dialogue that we had to cut for our hour-long runtime at Fringe that we'd love to bring back. In our wildest, weirdest dreams, *NSYNC will someday reunite for this show to play themselves - or each other!

Photo credit: Matt Smith

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