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A musical at The Steve Allen Theater stirring up controversy in Hollywood

Deck: A need to address modern day events prompts many to seek an outlet for frustration with the government.Entertainment L.A.

Al-Qaeda terrorists (Russell Steinberg, Andrew Ableson) and Aryan supremacists (Jacob Sidney, and Aaron Matajasic) Photo: Kim Gottlieb-Walker, CurtainUp.com
The Beastly Bombing runs every Friday and Saturday night at the Steve Allen Theater, located at the Center for Inquiry- West. Photo: Center for Inquiry- West

Running for 9 consecutive months in Hollywood, The Beastly Bombing: A Terrible Tale of Terrorists Tamed by True Love may be well on its way to bigger places.

You will never see political satire quite like this-- it is complete with Saudi Arabian terrorists in song and dance with Aryan supremacists, while plotting to blow up the Brooklyn Bridge. And while scheming is underway, they meet up with Hasidic Jews and the daughters of George W. Bush.

The cast and crew involved in this operetta never expected it to last this long. It is one of the very few small production shows to have such a long running, even more surprisingly so because they did absolutely no advertising whatsoever.

"It's all been word of mouth," said Julien Nitzberg, playwright for The Beastly Bombing. "People that come to the show go home and tell their friends to go see it, and their friends tell their friends. It's quite a miracle, actually."

So what's been bringing the audiences back weekend after weekend? The cast thinks it's the content. It's witty and it's controversial, so much that it takes a thick skin to sit through the two acts.

"We know from experience that if you read the script without the music, it comes off as very brutal and mean-spirited," said Roger Neill, composer for The Beastly Bombing, in a New York Times interview. "Reading page after page of 'I hate Jews' can be difficult for some people. But when you have the music, and the music is making you smile, you realize the context-- the absurdity-- of bonding over hatred of the Jews. It gives you permission to laugh at everything."

The ironic thing is that Nitzberg is Jewish, with a mom who was a Holocaust survivor.

So far, the show has been nominated for 5 L.A. Weekly Theater Awards and was winner for category of Best Musical of the Year.

The Beastly Bombing plays at 8 p.m. every Friday and Saturday night at The Steve Allen Theater in Hollywood. Tickets are $20.

For more information, click here.