On the face of it, a musical about ’NSync from the point of view of Chris Kirkpatrick rather than Justin Timberlake sounds like niche 90s nostalgia for what remains of the US boyband’s fandom. But it is just this weird, retro marginalia that gives Valen Shore and Alison Zatta’s satirical musical its brilliant bathos.
It is Christmas Eve in 2009 and Kirkpatrick (Shore) is in a Hollywood Starbucks queue, now barely recognised. “It’s true I used to be on MTV,” he sings, and waits for former bandmate Timberlake (Nicole Wyland) to ring him for their long-awaited reunion. From here, the plot mashes up It’s a Wonderful Life with A Christmas Carol and the life and times of the band. Fitzpatrick is transported back in time to revisit how he enlisted 14-year-old Timberlake and the rest of the team – Lance (Riley Rose Critchlow), Joey (Elizabeth Ho) and JC (Mia-Carina Mollicone) – before Timberlake streaked off for his stellar solo career.
