The lights go dim, the room is quiet and the show begins. A man enters, vaguely dressed as Ebenezer Scrooge from “A Christmas Carol,” accompanied by a group of dark, hooded figures. The man starts singing of unrequited love, and the hooded figures begin singing but not his song, rather Christmas carols.
Christmas Peril, produced by the San Diego State University Comedy Club, is the newest original musical to grace the school’s stage. The musical was written and directed by Justin Magallanes, a fourth-year film major, with music by Thomas Webster and orchestrations by Jameson Powell-Espiritu and Paul Rosette. The show delivers a delightfully strange and spirited twist on the holiday season.
This horror musical is set on Christmas Eve in a modern-day community college. It follows a nonbinary student, Eren Zann, who takes an internship with their best friend, Marley Jacobs, under the eccentric Dr. Kevin Tillinghast.
Merrin Pineda plays Zann, while Jacob Nguyen and Ryan Warden play Jacobs and Tillinghast.
Tillinghast creates a musical machine meant to capture the feeling of Christmas joy, but when it works too well, it unleashes chaos across campus. Evil carolers and holiday monsters begin to appear, including a demonic Rudolph, a carnivorous dreidel, Alvin and the Chipmunks turned monstrous, and the demon god Eggnog, played by Antonia Fuenzalida.
Amid the mayhem are Isa Biobaku, her girlfriend Kaia, and Candy Abbraham, a devout Christian student whose faith clashes with Zann and Kaia’s viewpoints.
Biobaku and Kaia are played by Jordan Davenport and Jeanatte Whateley, while Abbraham is played by Giolanna Loretelli.
When Eggnog turns Tillinghast evil and captures Biobaku and Jacobs, Zann, Kaia, and Abbraham must unite and harness the power of the holiday spirit to save their friends. Just before the second act begins, Santa Claus appears to hand out snowballs to the audience, creatively immersing viewers in the mission to defeat Eggnog.
Warden’s performance as Tillinghast stood out with its impeccable comedic timing, while Fuenzalida’s performance as Eggnog was both commanding and memorable.
The show sold out each night during its three-day run and brought audiences of all ages the light of the holiday season, along with a horror element and twist inspired by Howard Phillips Lovecraft. Lovecraft, one of the musical’s influences, according to Magallanes, was an American writer known for his horror, fantasy, and science fiction, and for his willingness to dive into all things weird.
“Lovecraft is fascinating to me…his work is, I truly believe, the first modern American Breed of horror,” Magallanes said.
Magallanes claims the famous author was “a monster,” but said that through Lovecraft’s writings, he was able to spawn his own original musical by having “a cast that reflected the opposite of a typical Lovecraft cast.”
Magallanes’ main goal with this piece was “to show you can do a show that’s new, that’s pushing boundaries.”
One way that he was able to do this was by including the storylines of LGBTQ+ characters.
“There are musicals that deal with LGBTQIA issues, not as many with trans and non-binary people,” Magallanes said.
Through the non-binary character, Zann, Magallanes highlights the non-binary community and the common struggles they face.
The musical draws deeply from Magallanes’ heart and soul, shaped by his love of musical theatre and his friends. Despite this only being the second musical he has ever written and produced, it was a hit on campus. Magallanes hopes to keep expanding the world of “Christmas Peril” as he works to bring his original shows to stages across San Diego and beyond.
