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Katy Perry Candy Darling Mary Magdalene
Music, lyrics, and book written by Joe Folladori
Directed by Tamarie Cooper
Music direction and arrangements by Alli Villines

World Premiere

Ticket Price

Pay What You Can

We Suggest $40
More If You Have it
Less if you don't

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Location

MATCH
3400 Main St
Houston, TX 77002
Venue Info

Performances

Feb 20, 2026 -
Mar 7, 2026

Cast & Personnel

Director
Music Direction
Songs By
Music Arrangement
Choreography
Cast
Scenic Design
Costume Design
Lighting Design
Video Design
Sound Design
Prop Design
Audio Engineer
Stage Manager

The Play

“What about all the in-betweens?”

Rock and roll was invented by corporations to sell cars and sex to teenagers. Indie rock was invented by teenagers who weren’t into cars or sex. Pop music is a CIA plot, like MK Ultra and Abstract Expressionism. Gender is a pyramid scheme; religion is a performance. Texas is both a gender and a religion.

How about you? What’s your whole deal? You sure about that?

KATY PERRY CANDY DARLING MARY MAGDALENE is the story of Sophia, lead singer of Bird Murderer (the best underground band in Houston*), and her quest to write the perfect song. It has to be personal, it has to be universal, and it has to come in under three minutes. Most importantly, it has to pay tribute to her favorite artist of all time: Katy Perry.

How did Sophia go from a lo-fi DIY diehard to pop star fangirl? Wait, isn’t the lead singer of Bird Murderer a dude? Where’d he go? Who IS Sophia, where’d she come from?

Seriously: where?

KATY PERRY MARY BERRY CANDY MANDOLIN is a madcap musical romp through the modern entertainment industry, a psychedelic meditation on the intertwining dualities of religious faith and gender identity, a harrowing discopunk psychodrama and a hot wet heavy metal nightmare, baby, yeahhhhh.

And aside for some lies, it’s all 110% true.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Joe Folladori has been throwing art and music at Houston and the world at large since the turn of the century. Imagine if Lou Reed and Oscar Wilde had a baby with Bo Burnham. How would any of that possibly work? Biologically, chronologically? What are we even doing here? Point being, imagination is magical, and maybe the world needs more magic, and maybe that magic starts with you. Yes, you. Look at what you already know you can do. You just imagined a baby that came out of three dead dads and zero moms.

But at what cost?

Catastrophic Theatre is proudly obligated to present the world premiere original musical experiment LOU REED OSCAR WILDE BO BURNHAM: A TALE OF THREE DEAD DADS. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll believe Bo Burnham died!

In the Media

Diva-licious: Katy Perry Candy Darling Mary Magdalene
February 22, 2026 | Houston Press | D.L. Groover
Katy Perry Candy Darling Mary Magdalene at Catastrophic: Houston’s avant garde theater hosts another world premiere
February 11, 2026 | Houston Press | Margaret Downing
Joe Folladori: Houston’s Answer To John Cameron Mitchell
February 4, 2026 | The Texas Signal | Jef Rouner
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