Press Comments

Nothing is as good as musical theatre when it works, nor as bad as musical theatre when it doesn't, a concept clearly understood by the twisted folks behind Top Gun! The Musical. As loving as it is scathing, Top Gun is a satiric look at the creation of a musical gone wrong. Though worth seeing for the brilliantly funny performances of Dmitry Chepovetsky and Steven Gallagher alone, this show turns a clever script and silly tunes into 90 minutes of raucous fun. Guaranteed one of this year's favourites, Top Gun is that rare theatrical treat: a musical that really works.

- eye weekly

Set backstage during the disastrous rehearsals for an adaptation of that 1986 Tom Cruise movie, Top Gun! is a satire of the mega-musical that has its target firmly in its sights.

- The Globe and Mail

Top Gun! The Musical has the right stuff to go the distance ... Denis McGrath (book and lyrics) and Scott White (music) have come up with a happy, zappy, sexy show about the perils of putting on a musical based on a movie... After this, you won't look at Tom Cruise or Kelly McGillis without snickering ever again.

Colin Viebrock has directed with wit and put together a cast who are both funny and attractive. Dmitry Chepovetsky sings up a storm, Racheal McCaig radiates good humour, Drew Carnwath is integrity incarnate, Alison Lawrence makes every line a winner, Steve Gallagher turns old camp into new comedy, Mary Francis Moore wrote the book on vamping and David Collins cries out to be committed. I loved them all ... It's hours after the curtain, and I'm still humming the final number, "You Can Ride My Tail." When's the last time that happened at a Canadian musical?

Top Gun! The Musical deserves another flight.

- Toronto Star

Could be this year's Drowsy Chaperone ... Filled with lots of intentionally bad lines and funny-angry-smart comments about dumb musicals based on films ... the show also features one of the most likeable casts in Fringe memory ... The songs and singers are strong ... a hugely entertaining 90 minutes.

- NOW Magazine

Top Notch! ... an unabashedly cliche-ridden script, enlivened by plenty of laughs and a score that ranges from the sublime to the ridiculous, although it is, in the main, just sublimely ridiculous.

- Toronto Sun (2003)

A frequent sellout this year is TOP GUN: THE MUSICAL -- a smart and funny play good enough to be done commercially ... manages at once to cut up both the film (as a ludicrously overheated piece of unintentional homoerotica and as military propaganda) and the current state of the theatre ...

- Toronto Sun (2002)

Scott White's catchy tunes paired with Denis McGrath's clever lyrics make for solid entertainment.

- Xtra Magazine

U.S. Premiere of Top Gun! The Musical Soars in Houston

- Playbill Online

The showstopping belly laughs on opening night made it hard to hear what came next. ... the hysterically funny songs keep the riot going.

- Houston Press

"Top Gun" takes musical inspiration, satire to new heights

... sharply focused theatrical satire.

- Houston Chronicle

Top Gun! The Musical Worthy of Top Honors

A truly zany look at the military mentality, the commercialization of theater, and the general numbing of the sensibilities of the western world. Top Gun! The Musical [...] gets all three in its sights and blasts away like a kid at a Nintendo game.

Top Gun! The Musical is a hoot. ... a splendid cast, unimaginably fine directing, and exciting handling of the music ... Theater LaB Houston has another stupendous hit.

- Texas Triangle