INDIANAPOLIS — For those who spent any time at all in an arcade in the 1980s and 90s, the opening music of “Arcadefire!” — playing Friday and Saturday as part of the IndyFringe Festival — should sound very familiar. The electronic melody is from Nintendo’s video game Donkey Kong — Mario jumping the barrel, the hammer smash and the sound of winning — are as recognizable as an old favorite song.
Written and directed by Catalyst Repertory founder Casey Ross, with music and lyrics by Christopher McNeely, the musical in its full name — “Arcadefire! The Redemption of Billy Mitchell” — tells a story of obsession, competition and winners and losers in the world of video games.
Ross got the idea for the musical after watching the documentary “King of Kong: A Fistfull of Quarters,” about the rivalry between Donkey Kong’s high scorer Mitchell and his self-proclaimed nemesis Steve Wiebe.
Ross tracked Mitchell down using the name of an acquaintance of his mentioned in several online media sources. That contact led to a phone call to the manager of a Florida video arcade who simply handed the phone to Mitchell when she called.
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Click here to purchase photos from this gallery“He answered with, ‘You talk, I’ll listen,’” Ross said.
She pitched the idea, telling him, “I want it to be funny, have heart, make people happy and poke a little bit of fun.”
And Mitchell was supportive of Ross’ project. He has helped with advertising and flew in to Indianapolis for the premiere.
“She seemed to have a 100 percent good spirit about her,” he said of Ross. “It’s difficult to find any negative energy in her personality at all.”
The musical tells the story of Billy Mitchell, who, from 1982 through 2010, held high score records in several video games, including Donkey Kong, Pac-Man, Burger Time and Centipede. At the 1999 Tokyo Game Show, he was named Video Game Player of the Century, and in 2003, he was named one of the 10 Most Influential Video Gamers of All Time by MTV.
But earlier this year, fortunes changed for Mitchell when his records were stripped from the books and he was banned from competitive video-gaming for life due to allegations of cheating.
Ross’ musical addresses the scandal from the perspective that Mitchell (played by Luke McConnell) was framed — possibly by Wiebe (Anthony Nathan) and his wife Nicole (Kayla Lee) — but in the course of its one-hour time frame, veers off in the light-hearted direction of friendship and loyalty with a surprise ending.
McNeely’s inventive song lyrics with titles such as “It’s a Kong-Off,” “How High?” and “Second Place, First Loser” are sung by the fine voices of the cast: McConnell, Nathan, Lee, Jim Banta (playing Billy’s sidekick Brian Kuh) and Ryan Powell (Walter Day, the referee).
Lee, a graduate of Greenfield-Central High School, and New Palestine High School graduate Jim Banta, have relished the experience of being in “Arcadefire!”
Lee has loved playing Nicole, describing her as in love with her husband, but ‘over it.’
“Her whole thing is like, yes, I’m glad you found your thing, and I guess I’ll support it,” Lee said, “But really? The thing you’ve chose in Donkey Kong?”
Banta, as the ever-optimistic follower, Brian Kuh, spends a good part of the show inexplicably wandering around in a towel, but he brings a delightful wide-eyed hero-worship to his sidekick role.
The venue for “Arcadefire!” is on the third floor of the Indianapolis Firefighter Museum, 748 Massachusetts Ave. The constraints of participating in IndyFringe are rigorous by any standard, and for their first rehearsal in the building (Wednesday before opening night) the group had a two-hour time frame in which to move into its performance space and rehearse, followed by a 10-minute window to clear the stage for the next group moving in.
Part of that process, for Ross and her company, Catalyst Repertory, included hooking up two ancient Donkey Kong consoles. There’s no doubt that Mitchell’s celebrity presence has created an unexpected buzz about the show, but that hasn’t stopped him from pitching in to help where needed. It was Mitchell who had the expertise to get the game consoles up and running.
Nor has he been shy with his feedback about the show. At Mitchell’s prompting, Ross stopped rehearsal to instruct McConnell to unbutton his suit coat.
As for the critical allegations aimed at Mitchell, he seems to roll with the punches. He has faced down a substantial amount of vilification following the March 2018 accusations of cheating. According to online sources, a subsequent investigation uncovered evidence that Mitchell submitted doctored high-score videos which resulted in Mitchell’s high scores in Donkey Kong and Pac-Man being stricken from the record books. He was also banned from any future competitive gaming.
“In the world of showmanship,” he intoned, “there’s little difference between good publicity and bad publicity. It’s about how you roll with it and have fun with it.”
With Mitchell in town for several of the performances, the cast and crew has had ample opportunity to observe his character for performance purposes — and some first-rate video game skills.
Following a recent rehearsal, the group went to Tapper’s Arcade Bar where, according to McConnell, Billy “obliterated” a number of existing high video game scores including Burger Time.
McConnell has been able to add face-to-face time with his character model in addition to hours of watching interviews with Mitchell on YouTube.
“It’s not often that an actor gets to play a real living person,” McConnell said, “much less one who’s sitting in the third row.”
“For the record,” McConnell adds, “I don’t know if he cheated, and I don’t care.”
“Arcadefire! The Redemption of Billy Mitchell” shows Friday at 10:30 p.m. and Saturday at 7:30 p.m. It’s an original musical featuring some first-rate Hancock County talent. And if you’re in the audience for either of the two remaining performances, you may just find yourself sitting next to the Video Game Player of the Century himself.
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“Go to some conventions, sign some autographs, go to a Fringe Festival if you have to….” Brian Wuh (Jim Banta) to Billy Mitchell (Luke McConell) in “Arcadefire! The Redemption of Billy Mitchell”
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“Arcadefire! The Redemption of Billy Mitchell” plays Aug. 24 at 10 p.m. and Aug. 25 at 7:30 p.m. at the Firefighter Museum, 748 Massachusetts Ave.
Tickets are available at indyfringe.org
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