(To learn more about this show, please visit the show’s page here)

Performance 6/14/26 – Portland Stage Storefront (aka TFK)

Gabe Hirst is a local artist with a diverse resume. Or so I have learned from some cursory Google sleuthing. The earliest press I could find about him described his musical side, highlighting a composition he wrote called Opus for 2020, a goodbye tribute to his high school classmates who were not able to graduate together due to Covid. Gabe told me after the show that in addition to being a musician and composer, his primary medium is film. At a young age he has already compiled a substantial resume of freelance film and video work, a host of personal projects, and an accomplished presence in two other Maine arts festivals, Damnationland, and Maine Mayhem, a film festival of Southern Maine Community College Communications and Media Studies program.

I don’t pretend to have done justice to his artistic bona fides, but here’s the point. In his first foray into theater, he probably has written and directed the run away hit of the 2026 PortFringe Festival. I don’t mean that Revenge of the Sith: The Musical is the best show, as probably there is no such thing among such a diverse array of shows. But if you want a big, fat, crowd pleasing banger of a Fringe show, this could be the one for you.

I won’t give too many spoilers, but the tone was set from the get go with a George Lucas doppleganger puppet introducing and curating the musical version of Sith. The puppet itself and the comic delivery of the puppeteer were priceless. The rest of the cast was terrific, each one scoring major laughs with crackling one liners, goofy character acting, hilarious celebrity impressions, battle choreography, air guitar, and bawdy, low-brow vamping. The crowd was in stitches. Each scene was set to a Star Wars themed projected backdrop which set the stage nicely.

The musical numbers involved clever parody lyrics to well chosen popular songs. My one quip is that in some of the songs the lyrics were hard to make out due to the volume of the music. Small potatoes, but I would consider lowering the volume in the first number especially.

Congratulations to Gabe and the cast for such a pitch perfect Fringe offering. And the rest of you get your tickets while you can.

Submitted on 6/14/26 by Mark Shaughnessy, PF26 Independent Review Team

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Like anyone else trying to review this Bad Boy, how do we talk about it without giving any spoilers? You may know the movie Revenge of the Sith, but you 100% better lock in for hyperspeed to experience The Musical.

This show is bawdy. This show is hilarious. The performances are On Point. The comedy is coming at ya full throttle. ROTS: The Musical is an ultimate love letter to, shall we say, an often overlooked prequel. The movie flaws are part of the camp and the whole cast is 100% committed. This is also what you want a Fringe show to be: a creative swing by artists excited to play and try something, where having a good time is at the root of it all.

If you’re a Star Wars fan, there are countless Easter Eggs for you (I see you, fight choreo in the lava) but if you’re not, you’re still in for a rollicking good time where George Lucas guides you through the narrative of his vision. Fair warning though, everyone – and I mean EVERYONE – is a little bit of a freak (wink wink nudge nudge who blasted first amiright).

SPOILERS AHEAD: Iconic music with kazoos! George Lucas is a puppet! (Also who made that!? The workman ship!) Put Jennifer Coolidge in more Star Wars, you cowards! Palpateen has a career in burlesque! Yoda is coming for Grumbo as Portland’s resident little green pervert! “You are on fire” is word-smithing genius!

Treat yourself to an awesome time in the theatre with this parody musical masterpiece.

Submitted on 6/17/26 by Allison McCall, PF26 Independent Review Team

Performance 6/17/26 – Portland Stage Storefront (aka TFK)

Most certainly a film-to-stage parody that nobody asked for, Gabe Hirst’s side-splitting musical sendup of the third Star Wars prequel somehow manages to be exactly what we needed. If Mel Brooks, Weird Al, and the South Park guys got into bed with a Wookiee mask and a 2000s pop playlist, they might produce something close to Revenge of the Sith: The Musical. Narrated by George Lucas in puppet form, this “never-before-seen cut” of the original is jam-packed with gut-busting bits, lightsaber duels, and raunchy song parodies that propel this galactically stupid show into space. If you ever asked “How is Anakin this dumb?” and “Why did Padmé have to die exactly?” and “Yoda’s a secret freak, isn’t he?”, this is your show. Only one last chance to see it, if the Disney cease-and-desist doesn’t arrive first.

Submitted on 6/18/26 by Tom Haushalter, PF26 Independent Review Team