Katy Perry Candy Darling Mary Magdalene at Catastrophic: Houston’s avant garde theater hosts another world premiere

Of course the first question of Joe Folladori, who wrote the music, lyrics and book to Katy Perry Candy Darling Mary Magdelene had to be: How did he come up with the title to this world premiere about to open at The Catastrophic Theatre?

“Well, I knew Katy Perry had to be in the title,” he says laughing, adding that he is a big fan of her music. “She is definitely a large part of the show.”

The musical deals with issues of gender identity, he says. “I knew Candy Darling would play a role in the show. A trans Warhol superstar. And I like threes and we needed a third name. It was originally called Katy Perry Candy Darling Mr. Belvedere. The rhythm was very important to me.”  They eventually discarded all the Mr. Belvedere aspects and, in his place, put the companion of Jesus Christ.

“Mary Magdalene honestly fit the rhythms and fit some of the themes and I was ‘OK, sure,’” says Folladori.

The story itself is about a local underground band looking for pop stardom and most immediately, a No. 1 pop hit, he says. It’s up to Sophia, the lead singer of Blue Murderer band to write such a song.

“We are in the recording studio with this band trying to figure out how to engineer a No. 1 chart hit. And they’re not great at it and they realize they don’t really understand a lot about music and a lot about the music industry and a lot about themselves and a lot about what exactly they are setting out to do.”

Despite the music that they make, they all really like Katy Perry, he says.

As for the other two names in his play: “Candy Darling we get to initially through the Velvet Underground song ‘Candy Says.’ It to my ears is still the best song ever written about gender dysphoria or about being trans or about being an outsider in general. Part of the story is about the way we express ourselves through other people’s art. We play cover songs; we lip sync drag performances.

“Candy Darling herself emulated the film stars of the ‘40s and ‘50s and took her identity from that.  Sometimes you can sing a song at karaoke that expresses yourself better than words you might be able to come up with. “

He started doing research on Mary Magdalene as both a biblical and historical figure. “All of the different interpretations of her. The way that she was used as a figure to maybe advance different goals or aims or just like the way that she herself is unknowable, but she’s seen from all of these different angles.” A lot of pop stars take on a similar function in society, he says. “They can be what we want them to be.”

Actors/musicians and singers in the musical beside Folladori (yes he’s on stage too) include:Sayward Anderson, Chris Bakos, Juan Sebastian Cruz, Joe Folladori, Mara McGhee, Jeff Miller, Cathy Power, Erin Rodgers, Alli Villines and  Abraham Zeus Zapata.

Folladori says he’s been officially working on this play for Catastrophic for about a year. He originally envisioned it as a one-person show that he would do “in a bar and maybe with a projector.”

He’s been writing and playing music for more than half his life, Folladori says. He never thought he’s be doing theater but after high school he got with Infernal Bridegroom, the predecessor to Catastrophic, and “it was better than anything I could ever imagine.”

In KPCDMM there are 10 people on stage every one of whom is an actor, musician and singer, Folladori says, adding that most are also dancers.  Catastrophic Co-Artistic Director Tamarie Cooper is directing.

Asked what he would want the audience to take away after seeing his musical, he says: “If I could have one wish I would like people to exit the theater more conscious of how we are all the same; we are all in this game together. That includes people who hate us. It is our job to understand even the people who want us dead.  And maybe it’s our job to love them too.”