Star Wars – The Um Ya Ya Menace: A Review
Lucas attempts to write a satirical review of a recent Star Wars-themed Carleton production.
Lucas attempts to write a satirical review of a recent Star Wars-themed Carleton production.
I recently attended a live performance of the newest installment in the venerable Star Wars saga, oddly-titled The Um Ya Ya Menace. A wholly unusual production, Um Ya Ya executes a number of bizarre artistic choices while simultaneously challenging the definition of a Star Wars episode itself.
Following the box office disappointment of Solo: A Star Wars Story, waves crashed through the Hollywood community with the news that Disney would be scaling down its Star Wars production plan. However, I doubt anyone expected the effects to be this pronounced. Produced under what must have been a considerably slashed budget, the episode features the level of production value you’d expect from a sort of college production. The cast and orchestra seemed to have been consolidated into one, left on a single, bare soundstage wearing costumes that, while charming, appeared suspiciously homemade.
Even the marketing was reduced to that of a handful of printed sheets of paper, the title seemingly having come under the direction of an entirely new production company.
Still, the final product, while unexpected, is successful. Borrowing generously from the seminal and vastly more original Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens, Um Ya Ya cycles through a familiar plot backed by a similarly familiar soundtrack that fails to disappoint, even as it is performed by “characters” whose only purposes seem to have been to make up for the missing music budget. In fact, the entire story is told by a single narrator, a sort of human analog to the iconic opening crawl we all know and love.
Speaking of omissions, why the lack of episode number? Perhaps an attempt to recover from Solo’s losses by appearing more standalone and, thus, more newcomer-friendly. This perhaps also explains the odd thematic bend towards a certain Midwestern liberal arts college I think I heard about once while watching Parks and Rec. If anyone has an appetite for a quirky, indie-movie-music-performance-hybrid of a Star Wars film, it’s those people.
Regardless, the production entertained, reaching a high note with the cameo appearance of none other than Steven Poskanzer himself, president of the above liberal arts college. With this moment came literal screams of joy from the audience. There’s no better sign than that.
Lucas is in his freshman year at Carleton, bringing with him a passion for all things nerdy and a talent for overthinking and awkwardness (and self-deprecation). He hails from Pasadena, California, and yes, he realizes it gets cold out here. Currently wildly undecided, he can see himself attempting a Physics and Cinema and Media Studies double major, although Chemistry, Economics, and Computer Science (among many other subjects) have been tempting him as well. He misses his bearded dragon.