Teddy Baskins (Vinnie Urdea), the passive hero at the center of Beware the Chupacabra, is the kind of person who has things happen to him, as opposed to being the master and commander of his own destiny. From unwillingly letting an heiress (Caitlin Wees) get him fired and agreeing to marry her, to finding himself in a remote Mexican jungle in search of the mythical Chupacabra in order to prove his father-in-law-to-be (Everette O’Neil) he’s a “man’s man”, poor Teddy is dragged all over by circumstance, and luck has it, he always manages to land on his feet. He’s like the straight man in a Marx Brothers comedy, unaware that he is fortune’s fool, but doing it with such charm that we can’t help but root for him, wish to overprotect him even.
Created by R. Patrick Alberty and Christian de Gré (who co-wrote and also co-direct) the show is a throwback to pre-Code Hollywood entertainment, complete with exotic locales, otherworldly creatures and hedonistic musical numbers that don’t take the story anywhere, but are a treat to sit through. There are numbers performed by elderly gentlemen members of a high society club that elicited hollers from the audience, if anything, the ensemblists of the show are the true scene-stealers, playing everything from the aforementioned gentlemen to Mexican villagers and flappers with ease and imprinting them with unique personalities.
It’s essential to point out that even though the show could’ve gotten away with using the troublesome conventions of the era it’s paying homage to, instead it subverts the tropes. For instance we get a female Chupacabra (Charly Dannis), who isn’t only beautiful - her costume makes one think of Michelle Pfeiffer’s Catwoman as if done by Maurice Sendak - but also is given the opportunity to be both scary and tender. The show also plays with the racial humor that makes one watch Bing Crosby/Bob Hope movies with equal parts affection and disgust, by having a hilarious character named Tipo (Robb Moreira) who initially seems to be ready to be a Speedy Gonzalez redux but slowly gives path to becoming a wonderful character all his own. Kudos to the writers for not translating many of the jokes in the show, and for allowing Tipo to be smarter than the characters who initially want to take advantage of him.
For a show that starts off with a beggar (played by a pitch perfect Eric Whitten) asking for money among the audience, and ends becoming a revision of King Kong and Beauty and the Beast filtered through screwball aesthetics, it’s astonishing that Beware the Chupacabra knows itself so well and always seems to be in complete control. As it goes down a quirky, insane path, like it does with its unwilling hero, it would be silly not to let it take you along with it.
