Winter Is Coming

MB Stage Productions at Actors Company (Let Live Theater)
Reviewed by Vanessa Cate
Through June 26

There is a reason that Game of Thrones is a cultural phenomenon. Currently in its sixth season, HBO’s fantastical triumph — which is based on George R. R. Martin’s unfinished book saga, A Song of Ice and Fire — features countless complex characters, a masterful and epic plot, and a host of heartbreaking twists.

With book by Jared Tyrel Pixler and David Evan Stolworthy, and music and lyrics by Laura Wiley, Winter Is Coming is an affectionate homage to Season 1 of the television show. Unfortunately, by having to simplify something so intricate, everything that makes Game of Thrones so powerful and engaging is diminished. The characters in this massive cast, while inspired by arguably some of the most dynamically written characters of all time, are reduced to mugging and unlikeable caricature. Easy sex jokes and eyerolling are the rules of the game. Pixler and Stolworthy, who also directed, would have done well to bring in another set of eyes.

Truthfully, the choice to make the musical based on the first season meant the writers had a lot of ground to cover, with most of it — apart from a certain famous beheading —  exposition. That’s why the songs are largely proclamations of character (when not about having sex, that is), and are largely unimpressive.

Lovers of the television show and book series will be amused at certain moments, while the uninitiated will likely only regard this show as the reason they never started watching Game of Thrones in the first place.

Actors Company (Let Live Theater), 916 N. Formosa Ave. Hollywood; https://www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/3460?tab=details Running time: approximately 65 minutes with no intermission.