Summer Mummers Entertains Audiences in 59th Season
Image Courtesy of Midland Community Theatre
The 59th triumphant season of Summer Mummers began on June 15th and will run every weekend until September 1st. That means that you have time to take in “Piracy on the Permian Seas: The Curse of the Burnt Kernel.” I highly recommend that you do so, especially if you have never had the pleasure of attending one of these thoroughly entertaining productions at the historic Yucca Theatre in downtown Midland.
Summer Mummers is a strange hybrid of melodrama, vaudeville, silent movie, and burlesque. Like most melodrama, Summer Mummers features stock characters like “The Hero,” “The Villain,” “The Heroine,” and “The Hero’s Sidekick.” If you remember the “Dudley Do-Right” cartoons from the “Rocky and Bullwinkle Show,” you have a good idea of the world in which the Summer Mummers melodrama takes place. Summer Mummers may be a little more over-thetop, however!
Each year, the cast of Summer Mummers tells a new story about how the hero saves the heroine from the clutches of the dastardly villain. They do this with both live performance and a silent movie. Though there is not much to the characters, nor is there much real suspense to the script, the melodrama is usually very entertaining.
The melodrama itself is very funny featuring lots of slap-stick, gags, and one-liners. It also features a lot of local references for the benefit of natives (like having Midland Sherriff Gary Painter being the one to lock up some of the characters during the silent movie). The melodrama is followed by “the zany olio” featuring a series of short music and comedy acts. Some of these acts are new every year, while others are favorites that have been performed every year for decades. These acts vary in their humor, but their quality as a whole is excellent and there are a few that are sure to have you in stitches.
Audience participation is absolutely essential to each performance and is what makes it so much fun. Audience members are encouraged to cheer whenever The Hero appears on stage and boo, hiss, and even throw popcorn at The Villain. Furthermore, audience members are encouraged to throw popcorn at each other during intermissions. As a consequence, full scale popcorn wars are a staple of Summer Mummers. But, it’s all in good fun since proceeds contribute to a significant portion of the Midland Community Theatre’s operating budget.
I should probably point out that as thoroughly amusing as Summer Mummers may be, it is not for everyone. It is entertainment, not art. If you are stuck on the idea that theatre should be “sophisticated,” then Summer Mummers is certainly not for you. Nor should you attend Summer Mummers if you are easily offended. Summer Mummers is intended for adult audiences and includes a great deal of adult humor. If you are offended by brief nudity, sex jokes, or provocative dance routines, then perhaps you would be better off attending a more family oriented production.
The key to enjoying Summer Mummers is to go with other people who are there to enjoy themselves. If you and your friends cut loose and just have some good natured fun, you will have a blast. The production has been around for 59 years. There are a great number of people who are fans for life. So give Summer Mummers a chance. It is unlike anything else you have ever seen.