‘The Android’s New Soul’ is an audacious world-premiere rock opera at the Bug Theatre that is both imaginative and touching

Who needs Tinder when you can reprogram your perfect lover? In The Android’s New Soul, romance gets a sci-fi upgrade as a woman falls head over heels for an android. This rock opera, decades in the making, has finally come to life on stage at Denver’s Bug Theatre, and it’s just as wild as its premise suggests. Written by Dana Cain when she was a high school senior in the 1970s, this campy dystopian romp has undergone slight revisions and expansions to suit modern sensibilities, but it retains the frenetic teenage dream fused with rock-and-roll ambition.

Opening night was a spectacle from the moment the audience arrived, greeted by a line out the door and quirky “Android Boyfriend Survival Kits” that included kitschy stickers and an Atomic Fireball candy. Inside, the 100-year-old theater had transformed into a post-apocalyptic wasteland with elevated production values rarely seen at smaller venues. This included vibrant 1970s sci-fi-inspired screen projections that helped transport us to the radiation-ravaged, mutant-filled future.

A wild blend

The show opens with a lengthy and slightly clunky overture, but once The Android’s New Soul finds its groove, it takes off into an unapologetically wild blend of rock opera bombast and dystopian drama. The plot centers on Dr. Stacy Starr (Suzanne Slade-LaGreca), a scientist working in an android factory, and her journey through a radiation-plagued world. After a devastating bomb drops, she reprograms an android (Matthew Combs as KRS-24) to be her romantic companion, and things only get stranger from there.

Slade-LaGreca and Combs anchor the production with committed performances that balance sincerity with the show’s inherent absurdity. Slade-LaGreca’s portrayal of Dr. Starr is quirkily earnest as she navigates a world that has been ravaged by radiation and bizarre mutations, including her ex-boyfriend Allen, who has transformed into a tragic lobster-human hybrid. Combs delivers a standout performance as KRS-24, later renamed Christopher, infusing the android with a stilted charm that makes his transformation into Dr. Starr’s overly sexualized companion both hilarious and oddly endearing.

The musical numbers, crafted by Cain and music director Mitch Samu, are a delightful throwback to ’70s rock operas. While the lyrics are simple and repetitive — fitting for a rock opera — there’s an infectious energy that carries the show. Standout numbers like “FDASS (Funky Disco Android Sex Song)” push the boundaries of camp with a gleeful irreverence. It’s not high art, but it’s undeniably fun.

Photo: John Williams

The production’s technical elements are surprisingly ambitious for The Bug’s intimate space. The lighting design by Brian Miller enhances the sci-fi aesthetic with vibrant colors and creative side-lighting, and the screen projections by Brian Essig-Peppard are seamlessly integrated into the storytelling, helping to build a believable post-apocalyptic world. The set and costume designs are endearingly DIY, with puppets representing the various mutant creatures — a giant butterfly and roaches — that add to the production’s whimsical tone.

However, the show isn’t without its flaws. The ensemble choreography by Rachael Lessard, while enthusiastic, is often uneven, and some of the early sound issues muddied the lyrics. Even though I appreciated the deeper emotional beats in these scenes where Dr. Starr grapples with radiation poisoning and survivor’s guilt in the second act, the musical’s ending with a contrived group song about how “love is stronger than you know,” left me wishing the musical had committed to the gut punch it effectively executes in the preceding scenes.

Still, The Android’s New Soul succeeds in offering a wholly original, chaotic and heartfelt journey. The show’s humor is refreshingly self-aware, leaning into the ridiculousness of its premise while also nodding to the growing relevance of its themes in the modern age, especially the exploration of artificial love and the boundaries of human-android relationships. Cain’s teenage dream of a sci-fi rock musical feels more relevant than ever as AI continues to advance in our world and artificially created companions are a reality.

Ultimately, The Android’s New Soul is a labor of love from Cain, LaGreca and their team, and it shows. The cast and crew’s passion for the project shines through, and while the musical may not be perfect, it is an unmissable experience for those who enjoy campy, sci-fi-infused spectacles.

Photo: John Williams