A Breaking Musical Is a Fringe Hit. Just Don't Mention Raygun.
'I wanna achieve all my dreams,' she sang, 'I wanna dance like no one's watching.'
Her story, told through silly songs, was remarkably similar to that of Rachel Gunn, better known as B-girl Raygun, the breaker whose unconventional routines at last summer's Paris Olympics — including a kangaroo impersonation — spawned mockery, memes and Halloween costumes.
Yet at the start of 'Breaking: The Musical,' running at the Pleasance King Dome through Aug. 24, a disclaimer on a screen at the back of the stage had insisted that the musical wasn't about Raygun at all: It was actually about a 'completely fictional breakdancer from Australia' … called Spraygun.
The disclaimer was essential. Last year, Gunn tried to shutter 'Breaking: The Musical,' saying that it would damage her brand. A promise not to use the name Raygun was part of a legal agreement that allowed the show to go on.
Steph Broadbridge, the Australian comedian behind the musical, said in an interview that she had assumed Raygun would have wanted to 'be in on the joke' and give her Olympic saga a happy ending. The musical, added Broadbridge, 42, was 'nicer' to the dancer before the legal action. Since then, she added, 'There's been a few rewrites.'
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