‘Octomom the Musical’: More than just octuplets

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Did you roll your eyes at last month’s news of the upcoming ‘Octomom the Musical’?

Yeah, we did too. But we were also intrigued -- it sounded too bad to be true, kind of like TMZ meets Stephen Schwartz. So we spoke with the show’s creator, Chris Voltaire, to get the lowdown on what could be the lowbrow hit of the season.

And the good news is that the show is about more than just octuplets. Voltaire says the musical will tell three interwoven stories about an infamous mother of eight, a crooked financier named Bernie Schmadoff and the national economy in freefall.

‘It’s supposed to capture the insanity of our country over the past few months,’ says Voltaire, who has written the book and lyrics to the show.

He compares the project to such other up-to-the-minute musical parodies as ‘A Verry Merry Unauthorized Children’s Scientology Pageant’ and ‘Rod Blagojevich Superstar.’

Set to open July 1 at the Paul G. Gleason Theater in Hollywood, ‘Octomom the Musical’ will run a whimsical one hour and feature 18 songs performed by a cast consisting mostly of up-and-coming improv comics. It will feature puppetry and other stage effects, though the creator declined to reveal how the octuplets will be portrayed.

As for Nadya Suleman, the Southern California mother who started the whole media storm, the show’s creators have decided to leave a reserved seat at every performance in case she wishes to attend.

‘She’ll always be welcome here,’ says Voltaire.

-- David Ng