Photo by Catalin Stelian

‘Skeleton Crew’ serves us fat-positive Broadway realness!

15th December 2021 BWM Staff

The Skeleton Crew meets Broadway, and we love to see it!

Nakia, acclaimed musician and semi-finalist of Season One’s NBC’s The Voice, in collaboration with Joshua R. Pangborn, is releasing three versions of their original musical, Dueling Pianos: A Skeleton Crew Musical.

Featuring 15 original songs set in the world of the internationally award-winning, queer, fat-positive series Skeleton Crew from SideKick Productions, audiences can stream the original cast album on Apple Music, Spotify and Amazon Music, as well as the Sing-Along Soundtrack, which was recently released on December 13th, 2021. Nakia’s Vocal Version will be released on December 19th, 2021. The songs are all part of the original musical episode of Skeleton Crew Season Five, streaming online now.

Dueling Pianos: A Skeleton Crew Musical follows the twin journeys of Hunter and Anthony as they seek a way to reconnect with one another after so many years apart. Using the virtual technology of their adult baby friend, Simon, the couple embark on their most melodic adventure yet.

While Hunter finds himself in a twisted asylum, Anthony bounces between lessons as the digital facsimiles of his friends sing their way to his reunion with his husband. Meanwhile, in the real world the rest of the crew find themselves singing their hearts out too as MoneyShot$ hosts an open mic night.

The musical includes many of the returning Skeleton Crew cast members, including J. Cerio, Joshua R. Pangborn, Ashley Monique Menard, Stuart Kiczek, Maggie Shirk, Rev. Yolanda, Paul Antzoulis, Andrew Carter, Hunter Thore, Alexander Colon, Nic Mains, Alexander Dorf, Christian Marte, Joshua Ster, Nico Kiefer. Dueling Pianos also stars Mark-Eugene Garcia, Barbara Thomas, and Nakia Reynoso.

The tracklist from Dueling Pianos is as follows:

“Adulting” performed by Nakia, Mark-Eugene Garcia, Ashley Monique Menard, Rev. Yolanda, Stuart Kiczek, Paul Antzoulis, Joshua Ster, Christian Marte, Alexander Colon, and Joshua R. Pangborn (2:24)
“Daddy Issues” performed by Mark-Eugene Garcia (1:59)
“Hate Sex” performed by Nakia and Joshua R. Pangborn (1:54)
“You and Me Equal We” performed by Mark-Eugene Garcia and Joshua R. Pangborn (2:25)
“Me, Myself, and Alone” performed by Barbara Thomas (2:49)
“A Touch of Poison” performed by Alexander Colon (1:59)
“The Man With the Midas Touch” performed by Nakia (2:50)
“Clowning Around” performed by Nic Mains (3:32)
“The ABCs of Kink” performed by Mark-Eugene Garcia, Joshua R. Pangborn, Ashley Monique Menard, Paul Antzoulis, Christian Marte, and Andrew Carter (4:29)
“I’m The Queen” performed by Ashley Monique Menard (1:58)
“The Devil’s In the Details” performed by Alexander Dorf (1:31)
“The Ballad of Heathcliff and Hunter” performed by Rev. Yolanda and Ashley Monique Menard (2:30)
“When Love’s Not Enough” performed by Mark-Eugene Garcia (1:53)
“What a Waste” performed by Nakia and Ashley Monique Menard (3:39)
“The Moon” performed by Joshua R. Pangborn and Mark-Eugene Garcia (2:53)

“I’ve loved musicals for as long as I can remember, but I never, ever thought I’d be able to write one,” said series creator Joshua R. Pangborn. “That all changed thanks to the incredible Nakia! He’s been such a fabulous collaborator and working with him to bring these songs from my head into real life is a dream come true. I’ve been fortunate to hear actors breathe life into my characters for a few years now…but to hear them sing songs I co-wrote? That’s a whole new experience! I’ve been bitten by the lyricist bug, and I can’t wait to get started on the next song!”

He goes on to say: “I had the greatest time working alongside Catalin Stelian as he filmed four of the numbers—Catalin is a genius behind a camera (and in front of it too!), and he can take an idea from my head and transform it into something so much bigger and better! I couldn’t imagine doing this project without him!”

“Most people don’t know I went to college on a musical theatre scholarship,” said Nakia. “Or that I actually almost became a Broadway baby when I auditioned for and was accepted into AMDA (American Musical and Dramatic Academy) in New York when I was just 19. I’ve performed in a bunch of musicals, plays, and even a few workshops, but until Joshua asked me to, I had never written a musical. Needless to say, I am hooked!”

He goes on: “For me, the process of collaborating with Joshua in NY on the songs and witnessing them come to life as Matt Parmenter and I produced the albums in Austin was very fulfilling. However, it wasn’t until we took the tracks to NYC for the cast to begin recording their vocal parts that I was totally blown away. I get to sing all the songs on Nakia’s Vocal Version, but there’s something that is so magical about hearing songs you’ve created being sung by other people.”

Nakia also let us know that we can look forward to more collaborations from he and Joshua Pangborn in the future, stating: “And yes, Joshua and I have already written a ton of songs for our next musical.”

Check out the music videos for “Adulting”, “The ABC’s of Kink” and “When Love’s Not Enough” on YouTube! Keep an eye for other videos to be released from the soundtrack!