Coming soon to Broadway or eventually, a theater near you: "Star Trek -- The Musical."
Don't laugh too hard. It could happen. Just look at the newest "Next Generation" big-screen adventure, "Star Trek: Insurrection" for proof.In one of the film's best scenes, stuffed-shirt Capt. Picard (Patrick Stewart), android Lt. Commander Data (Brent Spiner) and rigid Klingon Lt. Commander (Michael Dorn) burst into song, performing a number from the Gilbert & Sullivan musical comedy "H.M.S. Pinafore."
And while the scene was done for laughs, it was also conceived as a way to show off the three actors' singing skills.
"I've started falling into the Christopher Walken roles in movies now, except he always dances in his films while I get asked to sing," said Spiner during interviews held in Los Angeles to publicize the movie's opening.
"Actually, we're a pretty musical bunch. You'd be surprised to see how much singing there is on the set," he added.
At one point in his career, Spiner even recorded an album title "Ol' Yellow Eyes is Back," a collection of popular standards, such as "It's a Sin to Tell a Lie." Providing backup vocals on those songs were the Sunspots, consisting of Stewart, Dorn, LeVar Burton (Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge) and Jonathan Frakes (Commander William Riker).
Oddly, the one person left out of the "Insurrection" songs was actress Donna Murphy, who co-stars as the mysterious Anij, Capt. Picard's love interest in the film. Murphy has won two Tony Awards, one in 1994 for her performance as Fosca in the musical drama "Passion" and another in 1996 for her work as Anna in the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical "The King and I."
"I was extremely disappointed and felt slighted. I think I should have been singing the 'Star Trek' love them over the final credits," she said jokingly.
As for Frakes, who directed Murphy and his "Next Generation" castmates on the film, he said the "Star Trek" musical concept is "brilliant."
(Of course, he has also performed extensively in musical theater productions.)
"I think we should do it onstage immediately. It would probably run forever," he said without a trace of sarcasm.
However, if the notion of a "Star Trek" musical sounds too bizarre to be believed, remember that there's a "Star Wars" musical comedy being performed throughout the country.
Also, "Star Trek" motion picture theme composer Jerry Goldsmith has been approached several times to write "Star Trek: The Opera." No word on whether he turned the offer down because they wanted the opera to be in Klingon, though.
(If you're not a Trekkie, don't worry. It's a "Star Trek" specific in-joke that's probably not worth getting.)
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: "Well, first of all, my kids -- who are all grown, mind you -- said if I didn't do this movie they'd never speak to me again. Then, I told my extremely sophisticated Italian friends that I was going to be in the movie, and they brought out all of their 'Star Trek' action figures. It turns out that they're closet 'Star Trek' fans." -- Actor F. Murray Abraham, who co-stars as the villainous Ru'afo in "Star Trek: Insurrection."
QUOTE OF THE WEEK RUNNERUP: "I've always been realistic about where I am on the ("Star Trek") totem pole. They could make 10 'Next Generation' movies, and not one of them would be about (Counselor Deana) Troi. Patrick (Stewart) and Brent (Spiner) play the most popular characters -- that's why they get paid the most money. But the movies have to have some 'unimportant' stuff, and that's where my character fits in. That's all I could really hope for, and I'm not unhappy about it." -- Actress Marina Sirtis, who plays Counselor Troi in the movie.
Deseret News movie critic Jeff Vice can be reached by e-mail at jeff@desnews.com.