Now playing at the Charline McCombs Empire Theatre is ‘Spamilton: An American Parody.’ The tour launched in December 2018 and has been playing several multi-week engagements, hip-hopping around the country. Created by Gerard Alessandrini, the comic mastermind behind the long-running hit ‘Forbidden Broadway’ and performed by a versatile cast of seven, ‘Spamilton’ is a side-splitting new musical parody. It is playing through Sunday January 26 with upcoming performances: Tuesday through Thursday at 7:30p.m., Friday at 8p.m., Saturday at 2p.m. and 8p.m., and Sunday at 2p.m. and 7:30p.m. Tickets start at $69 and are available online, by calling Ticketmaster at 1-800-982-2787, or by visiting the Majestic Box Office.

‘Spamilton: An American Parody’ is a musical parody of the Broadway show ‘Hamilton.’ It also parodies several other musicals including ‘Chicago,’ ‘The King and I,’ ‘The Book of Mormon’ and ‘Sweeney Todd’ and personalities like Barbara Streisand, Bernadette Peters, Carol Channing and Liza Minelli. Cast includes Jared Alexander, Marissa Hecker, Brandon Kinley, T.J. Newton, Datus Puryear and Matthew Hougland (Musical Director as well as King George III.) It begins as “Barack and Michelle Obama” are getting ready for bed and they set up their copy of the ‘Hamilton’ Broadway Cast Album to play before they fall asleep. From there the story develops into a fictionalized account about ‘Hamilton’ and how Lin-Manuel Miranda’s dream came true. Woven in between are mashups of musicals and parodies of the real songs. Highlights include “Straight is Back” by King George III and “The Film When It Happens.”

At only an hour and 15 minutes, ‘Spamilton’ is packed with everything that made ‘Hamilton’ a Broadway hit: similar cast costumes and songs that sound similar but hilariously re-written to fit the scene. Is it necessary to have seen the original to enjoy ‘Spamilton?’ No, but it helps, as does having a knowledge of the different musicals in general because there are so many Easter Eggs it is hard to pick up on all of them. Everyone does a fabulous performance but Marissa Hecker’s impersonations are spot on, especially her Barbara Streisand and Liza Minelli. ‘Spamilton’ is a non-stop singing and dancing spectacular and the laughs come early on and stick around for the entire show. There is no intermission and the smaller venue at the Empire Theatre gives it a more intimate feel. It is a definite must-see.