Killin’ Republicans’ a new production by New Rock Opera led by Dick D. Zigun and under the Coney Island Mermaid Parade is about what happens in a conversation when actress Jodie Foster, a Nigerian Afrobeat star, and her Mississippi oilman husband get drunk together in a first-class on a transatlantic flight Stanley Nkwazema reviews
It has been long expected, the exciting thing is that the thriller is here making a wave and strong statement in the theatre. “Killin’ Republicans” is a rock opera with concept and libretto by Dick D. Zigun, who is known as an icon of the Brooklyn avant-garde art scene, the Permanently Unelected Mayor of Coney Island, Creator of the Mermaid Parade and Coney Island Museum, and Godfather of Neo-Burlesque and Sideshow revivals. Composed by Arturo “Artie” Rodriguez, and directed by Vagabond, Killin Republicans is not a cry for violence but an intellectual discussion, set to Rock ‘n Roll, about violence in the history of the Republican Party. The entire piece is either sung or performed in recitative in a variety of styles: rockabilly, Dean metal, Willie Nelson, Beatles, and Punk. Theatre for the New City, which gave Zigun his first paying theater job (running the TNC Box Office in the late 1970s) will present the opera’s world premiere from November 30 to December 17.
Zigun credits this production to his wife, Princess Patience Mukoro a renowned artiste and established music aficionado,from Akara Royal Quarters, Kiagbodo Mein, Delta State, Nigeria, and also the late Nigerian playwright, J.P. Clark (my Uncle-In-Law) for ‘Killin Republicans’.
He said they “encouraged the writing of this story over a non-stop 2-day conversation. After I was welcomed to Warri by my In-Laws. Commissioner for Education, Edwin Kiagbodo Clark, at his Mansion at Kiagbodo Delta State. And his Royal Highness King Pere Bigborogha, in the Throne Room of his Palace at Kiagbodo, were very influential to the birth of this production.”
In the story, actress Jodie Foster finds herself stuck in the first-class cabin of a transatlantic flight with two wealthy very important personalities (VIPs): Goodness Gracious, a Nigerian Afrobeat star studying for her USA Citizenship test, and her husband, Billybob from Biloxi, a Mississippi oilman and Rockabilly aficionado. The couple are aware that Foster was the hapless inspiration for John Hinckley’s attempted shooting of President Ronald Reagan in 1981. Reagan was leaving the Hilton Hotel in Washington, DC, where he had addressed 5,000 members of the AFL-CIO when shots rang out. Hinckley, wielding a .22 handgun, had attempted an assassination to impress Ms. Foster, with whom he had a psychotic obsession.
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