When you cross a concept album by independent Swedish songwriters with a stage full of garbage, and the themes of fame and love, and set it in the future, you get JUNK. “Junk: A Rock Opera” fuses these incongruous elements into a musical, now playing for an extended run at the new Lyric Theatre LA through Oct. 13th.
“Junk” follows the adventures of Anna, an employee at the world’s last great business, Junk Incorporated. A chance at fame in the metropolis’s last nightclub forces Anna to choose what’s most important to her: her punk ideals and the chance at true love or fame and glory.
Songs from obscure Swedish rockers, Brainpool’s 2005 experimental concept album, also titled “Junk: A Rock Opera,” narrate the show. With little dialogue to string the songs together, the show’s messages about corporate life, ambition and, of course, love reflect Anna’s struggles. With a live rock band on stage to accompany the singers, “Junk” generates an energy similar to that of other rock musicals, like “Rent.” However, the futuristic setting, neon stage lighting and sets, and quirky, cult charm of “Junk” make it stand on its own.
This combination of modern energy, universal themes and a novel premise drove the Lyric Theatre LA to produce “Junk.”
“Junk’s not a Broadway hit by any means, but it is pushing for new techniques and new things to bring to the table and new discussions and I’m always looking for that,” said Ryan Braun, co-owner of the Lyric Theatre LA and fourth-year theater student. “Using this theater for new work is a really great thing we’re pushing for,” Braun said.
Though the show is currently running at the Lyric Theater LA, which houses 99 seats, “Junk” premiered at the smaller Steve Allen Theater in Hollywood earlier this year. Its move to the larger Lyric Theatre LA gave the designers of the show the flexibility to expand the show’s aesthetic possibilities. The success of the initial run allowed the whole team to move up.
UCLA theater alumni Brett Banakis, the lighting and set designer of the show, was especially able to put his creative stamp on the production as he had to expand the show and set it up on a grander scale.
“In the first run, I was only the set designer for the show,” Banakis said. “I sort of used what we had there and changed it around a little bit, and I think we came up with something sort of beautiful. Then we moved into this new stage, and there was this whole new series of options we had to fit that space.”
Some of the changes Banakis made in the transition to the Lyric Theatre LA included using a greater variety of colors in the lighting and on the sets to give the show a more dimensional look in the larger space.
“The thing about working on a new piece is that things are always changing,” Banakis said. “It was a fun, creative process.”
Braun similarly admired the greater flexibility in shifting the new production to the larger theater.
“It was really eye-opening to see what a 99-seat theater could do given the right material and the right minds involved,” Braun said. “Brett is a great friend of mine, so watching him be able to twist the space in so many different ways … was amazing to see.”
Adapting a new show to a larger theater had its challenges; Banakis discovered that he had to play several new roles in producing “Junk.”
“I think this whole process is really a compromise from head to toe,” Banakis said. “It’s really a juggling act. The theatre person today is a liaison, an artist, and a technical person.”
Braun similarly recognizes these multifaceted roles in the theater and, through his experiences with “Junk,” further developed his skills in management and production.
“It’s really a time management life, so you have to micromanage everything,” Braun said.
Braun studies acting at UCLA, though his work in “Junk” has helped him understand and better appreciate the business side of theater.
“Being (at UCLA), I’ve been really pushed and really determined to do well in this (theater) business,” Braun said. “The more I get involved with it, the more I realize how much I love it and I realize how much of the possibilities I can do with it.”
Both Banakis and Braun plan to continue living the theater life upon the musical’s completion.
“I’ve gotten so many opportunities just out of my life, and I’m not going to let these opportunities fly by. I’m going to seize them and tear them apart,” Braun said.