Hell’s Kitty: The Musical

By: Jennifer Verzuh

Hell’s Kitty may not have nine lives like the feline at its center, but the story is already on its third incarnation. The musical, currently playing at Hollywood Fringe Festival, was previously a web series and then a feature film. Its jump to the stage though feels premature and, perhaps, unnecessarily entirely.

The show, from writer Nicholas Tana, revolves around the character Nick, an aspiring writer who finds himself lacking the inspiration and motivation to write much of anything. His search for a muse; however, is hindered by his temperamental cat, Angel (Isabel Caxide). Any date he brings home leaves with scratches (and not from him). Despite his hurting love life though he refuses to contemplate the possibility of parting with Angel, seeing her as his best friend. Unfortunately, her jealous and increasingly aggressive behavior becomes too much and he’s forced to seek help. This comes in the form of a dominatrix, pet therapist, and priest via an exorcism.

Though the premise itself is fairly simple and straightforward, the execution is far from it. As the show progresses it gets wilder and wilder, with too many subplots from romance to gaslighting to witchcraft to be truly enjoyable or even fully comprehensible.

The music (also from book writer Tana) is the show’s biggest detriment though, which is the last thing one wants to say about a musical. The lyrics are overly simplistic without being catchy, as is the music behind it unfortunately. The songs themselves and their placement often feel awkward and fail to elicit much emotion or sufficiently move the plot forward. The choreography that accompanies it is minimal and lackluster as well, even from the kitty Greek chorus in the background.

The cast is certainly putting forth a strong effort, but the majority seem to have reached just past their limitations as performers. In many cases their voice falters during a solo. Joey Hunt really impresses as the lead though. He truly shines, despite this not being the best role to necessarily showcase his talents. He gives the part all his energy, enthusiasm and emotion. He also has a strong voice and manages to have good chemistry with all his co-stars, including Angel.

One wonders how much better this would have been as a straight up parody, poking fun directly at Cats and/or horror films. There is a bit of that to be found here as we get some direct and indirect references to films like Psycho and there is certainly humor, or at least an attempt at humor, throughout. Ultimately, though, this show wanted to be seen and taken as its own original work and frankly it’s just not a strong enough a musical to stand purely on its own.

The show has its final performance this weekend in Los Angeles and the film version is available to watch on Amazon Prime.