Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog

Tickets : http://www.broadwaywest.ca/Home.html

Something horrible is about to happen at the Vertigo Studio Stage.

Something horribly good according to Blair Gallant artistic director or Calgary’s Broadway West Productions.

Blair has snagged the first professional production rights for the Internet cult phenomenon Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, a collaboration between brothers Joss, Zack and Jed Whedon.

It was created in 2008 during the WGA writers’ strike.

Joss, who created such hit TV shows as Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Firefly and Dollhouse, teamed up with his brothers to defy the strike by writing for the Internet, one medium not covered by their contracts.

They wrote this quirky musical and cast Neil Patrick Harris as Dr. Horrible, an aspiring mad scientist, Nathan Fillion as his arch-enemy Captain Hammer and Felicia Day as Penny, the woman they both love.

According to Blair, the musical was posted in three parts, one per week.

"The first posting received 200,000 hits per hour and eventually crashed the system. Each week, the hits increased. It became a genuine Internet phenomenon," says Blair, who happened on a DVD copy of Dr. Horrible at his local video store.

"Buffy and Angel were not parts of my world so I had no idea what my video clerk was talking about when she insisted I watch the DVD. I took it home, watched it and was on the phone immediately contacting Joss Whedon’s agent.

"He put me in touch with Joss, who I kept calling Josh because I had no idea who he was. He said there were no actual stage performance rights but I was welcome to the show provided I adapted it and the music for the stage."

Blair’s next phone call was to Neil Patrick Harris, who said he’d be in the Calgary production provided he had no other commitments when Blair was ready to roll.

"Neil has been cast in the title roll of the Broadway revival of Barnum but we cast from across Canada and Jon Lachlan Stewart is as good a Dr. Horrible as anyone could ask for," says Blair, whose version of Dr. Horrible runs in the Vertigo Studio Stage from May 27 through June 5.

"The Internet is still an angel to Dr. Horrible. We posted our intentions to do the show on Facebook and immediately sold out half the tickets we have for the entire run."

Remaining tickets are on sale at 403-221-3708.

Blair promises the uninitiated that Dr. Horrible is a big, brash, silly send-up in the likes of The Rocky Horror Show and Debby Does Dallas, two shows his company has already presented at the Calgary International Fringe Festival.

"Anyone who liked Evil Dead the Musical will love Dr. Horrible, even if they’ve never checked it out on the Internet."