‘Ginger Twinsies’ Give ‘Parent Trap’ Villain a New Ending (Exclusive)

“Meredith Blake’s hat has to be sized for the stage!”

That was one of Kevin Zak’s first ideas when he began conceiving The Ginger Twinsies, a blockbuster off-Broadway parody of the popular 1998 Lindsay Lohan classic The Parent Trap.

What began as a reading during the writers’ and actors’ strike snowballed into a full-fledged production at the Orpheum Theatre, complete with an oversized hat gag, a five-minute “secret handshake” production number, and a surprise cameo by Jamie Lee Curtis (well, sort of).

“My favorite compliment is when someone says, ‘That was the stupidest thing I’ve ever seen,'” Zach, 37, tells PEOPLE of the show, which ends its limited run on October 25. ”

The following is Zack, who also worked on “Silence!” The Broadway Stage Adaptation of “The Musical and Death Becomes Her” – How Ginger Twinsy was born, “The Parent Trap” fanatics are thrilled, and why Meredith Blake was finally chosen to play her.

People: Where did the idea for Ginger Twinsies start?
Kevin Zak: It all started about two years ago during the writers and actors strike. A friend asked me if I would like to hold a series of script readings to raise funds for this cause. I immediately chose The Parent Trap. Because I deeply love those movies (the Hayley Mills version and the Lindsay Lohan version) and their lore. We knew the movie was loved, but when we cast it completely against type (Jeffrey Self and Ira Madison played twins), it sold out instantly. People in costume also came! We read the script word for word, incorporating movie projections, and people read along with us. That’s when I realized that this movie was in everyone’s DNA. And I thought, “If I don’t do something with this, someone else will.” ”

Where does your sense of humor come from?
I am the youngest of three siblings. We’re all gay, so I don’t know if there’s any extra cultural competition within that. But I grew up watching movies long before I should have, including iconic Jerry Zuker slapstick films like The Naked Gun and Airplane! and Leslie Nielson in The Wrongful Convictions and Dracula. That’s exactly the kind of humor I like.

MADtv was also huge for me. I adore the women of that era. Mo Collins, Debra Wilson, Stephanie Weir, Nicole Sullivan, and Alex Borstein. They all deserve their own version of bridesmaids. Oh, Lori Beth Denberg from All That was my idol, Vital Information.

Were there any parts you knew you needed to include in the film?
The first gag I wrote down was “Meredith Blake’s hat has to fit the size of the stage.” It made sense because my whole philosophy is, “This show is a hat on top of a hat.” But everything else I did was just to make myself laugh. I was thinking about GIFs and memes about movies I’ve watched over the years. These scenes are just the core memories of watching the movie. So there are also lizards, top hat and veil moments, and secret handshakes. In our version, this will be a five-minute production number. Essentially, all of this I knew superfans would love.

You said the handshake would last for five minutes. Was that always the plan?
It has grown. We did a mini version in an early reading, and then when we went to the Orpheum, I worked with my husband Jesse Robb (Tony Award-nominated choreographer) to make it happen. I wanted to do a parody of Wicked and Chicago, but also pay homage to Stomp. Because we are rightfully in the theater that Stomp has operated for 30 years. And of course, praise how gay this show is.

I mean, Barbara and Judy’s “Get Happy/Happy Days Are Here Again” moment?
That’s exactly right, but our version of it. So Noel Carey, who composed Death Becomes Her, weaved the film’s handshake melody, Young Holt’s “Soulful Strut”, into various sections to make it feel like a Stephen Schwartz version of the song, as well as a Kander and Ebb version. It’s goofy on the surface, but there’s some real cleverness behind it that makes it as gloriously stupid as possible. Once that number is reached, all bets will be void for the remainder of the show. They say, “You can really expect anything.”

What’s even more interesting is that this is not a musical.
And it’s on page 6 of the script. It’s not a musical, it’s a complete production number from a play. And that’s what I love about actors. This is a group of eight hilarious character actors, but none of them are trained dancers, and we asked them to learn to dance like Liza Minnelli. And they really were games.

You also really milk this relationship between Chessie and Martin.
Well, as you’ll see when you watch The Parent Trap, there’s no B-plot in this movie, so other things needed to be explored. This is another example of what we really got out of the conversation. The whole idea that Chessie is a lesbian awakening for many women is here. Martin, he rides around in a Speedo in front of his boss. He is always moved to tears. So we came up with the term “queer adjacent” and thought everything we could about it. This is the only other story in the movie, and their story ends about 30 minutes before the movie ends.

Jimmy Ray Bennett and Grace Leiter really sell it.
They’re both just geniuses. I will praise them until the end of the world. they are such great performers.

The same goes for the entire cast, including Russell Daniels and Aneesa Falls, who play Annie and Harry.
The twins Aneesa and Russell are truly magical. Aneesa was always on my mind. Russell came later. I looked like I was playing him as Ruth in Titanique, and that was an important performance for me. The first day we met, it was as if we had known each other for decades. And the fact that they look nothing alike makes for the smallest gag in the show. I just buy it because everyone else buys it.

But yes, as you said, the entire company, including Matt Wilkas, LaKeisha May, Mitch Wood, and Philip Taratula (who won an Oscar for playing Meredith Blake and should have won an Oscar for playing Meredith Blake), LaKeisha May, Mitch Wood, and Philip Taratula, has been working on finding the funniest and least worthy choices. We rehearsed like crazy and everyone was rooting for the gag and not themselves. Our juniors (Omorade Way, Casey Whyland, Mike Levenson) are getting a chance to shine and I’m excited for them.

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This set is full of Easter eggs everywhere you look. How did the set and its details come together?
The person in charge of the set was Beowulf Borat, and he really helped me unlock a lot of parts of the show when I first showed him the design. So the audience enters a summer camp theater and is given the illusion that a group of camp counselors are putting on the best version of The Parent Trap they can, using only what they can find on the grounds. And that’s what we thought. “Well, half the audience would be in London, where one of the twins lives, and the other half would be in California, and it would trickle down to the house where the other twin lives.” And once we did that, it was easy to think, “We need a Beanie Baby of Princess Diana. And we also need a picture of Leonardo DiCaprio in the movie…”

genius.
He and his team have been back since the opening and continue to add more. The other day, I found a Spice Girls doll on the London side that I had never noticed before.

Speaking of new things, upon rewatching the movie years later, fans realized that Meredith Blake wasn’t quite the villain she was made to be. Ginger Twinsies are based on exactly that theory. Was that always the plan?
From the beginning. I thought, “We need to give Meredith Blake the full Wicked treatment.” So this was a 26-year-old single woman in business who was dating a single father looking for stability. She shows her best self to who she thinks is Harry and says, “How was camp? Was it great?” And soon the child attacks her. And yeah, she’ll do some evil things in the future, but who among us? So I wanted to make it feel more ambiguous and center it here in a way that I never did in the movie.

Was that the reason why Elaine Hendricks, famous for her role as Meredith Blake, signed on as a producer?
I don’t know if it hurts or not! she loved it. At the reading she visited, she stood up and clapped after Meredith Blake’s monologue, asking the audience to decide for themselves who the real villain was.

I am so grateful to Elaine. She was our show’s cheerleader and champion. It’s really crazy, the kismet of our run coincides with her appearing on Freaky Friday and reuniting with Lindsay Lohan. Because they worked together when Lindsay was a literal kid. So now they reconnected as adults. And hopefully Lindsay will come see the show when her schedule is free.

How about Jamie Lee Curtis joining the Ginger Twinsies? How did she end up joining the show?
She is a true newcomer to full production. Between the second workshop and full production, we realized we needed a version of the moment when the twins decided to swap places that felt like their own. Jamie Lee is like the guardian angel of the Lohan Cinematic Universe. So I said: “What would happen if, in our version, Jamie Lee was in the audience and couldn’t bear what was happening in front of her, and she went on stage and expressed her trauma?” Because that’s what Jamie Lee is like in real life. She wasn’t one to bite her tongue. Tonally, it felt oddly right. And the fact that this all coincided with my recent reunion with Lindsay on Freaky Friday was perfect timing.

Are there any that didn’t appear on the show?
In fact, there are many. The movie is over two hours long, but it’s actually 80 minutes long. For example, we started with Ocean Liner, which was cut for an off-Broadway production. And I thought I was going to really miss this, but there was nothing in this movie that I thought was really missing.

Apparently the fans don’t either. They’ve embraced this show in such a great way. That must be satisfying, right?
The funny thing is, during rehearsals, during technicals and previews, we were so busy that we didn’t have time to rethink ourselves. You can’t think, “Will people like this?” Because I didn’t have time. And now, since it opened, I have a raw nerve. “There’s something in New York where I can go see something I wrote and directed! And if they don’t like it, it’s literally all my fault!”

Fortunately, as you said, the reviews are positive and everyone seems to be satisfied. They come expecting “The Parent Trap” and get all the extra movies and references. That really scratches the itch. So it means a lot and I’m just really grateful.

Ginger Twinsies tickets are on sale now.