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In the Calendar section, get a behind-the-scenes look at the actors in the latest Marvel Universe Live stunt show, hitting Amway Center this weekend. Then check out reviews for “The Commuter,” “The Post,” “I, Tonya” and more coming to screens across Central Florida. Plus, find the Orlando Philharmonic’s latest, event listings and more.
“Avengers: Infinity War” will bring some of Marvel’s most beloved characters together in one story when it hits theaters in May. But real fans don’t have to wait.
“Age of Heroes,” the latest production of the explosive stunt show Marvel Universe Live, brings Star-Lord together with Doctor Strange. Black Cat will fight Black Widow and Iron Fist will battle alongside Iron Man. More than 25 characters from the Marvel universe will fill Orlando’s Amway Center this weekend.
Or rather, a Marvel universe. My mission is to figure out in which storyline continuity “Age of Heroes” takes place. For you see, true believers, in this dimension, this mild-mannered reporter for a major metropolitan newspaper has punched Loki in the face!
Becoming the story
Now in its fourth year, Marvel Universe Live includes 45 acting acrobats running through more than 100 costumes and leaping through cutting-edge explosions and special effects. “Age of Heroes” marks the first appearance of characters from Guardians of the Galaxy, who will join forces with the Avengers and Doctor Strange to retrieve the Wand of Watoomb from Loki and a gallery of rogues.
The show involves trap doors, moving platforms and half a dozen motorcycles. “It’s all extremely calculated,” says Taylor Castriota, a former gymnast who plays the Guardians’ warrior woman Gamora. “It looks chaotic because we’re all running around fighting each other, but if you’re off your mark a tiny bit you might get run over or catch on fire or something,” said Castriota, who has been with the production in a variety of roles since the first tour in 2014.
My adventure fortunately does not include fire. It begins with being led beneath the Amalie Arena in Tampa for superhero training, where the actors — out of costume and in a cozier setting than the arena stage — perform stunts for wide-eyed children and me. We’re treated to several demonstrations of choreographed battle moves from stick combat to spinning roundhouse kicks.
It’s all fun to watch until a boy is invited onto the performance space. That’s when things get really impressive.
This child, standing maybe three-feet high, grabs the Guardians of the Galaxy’s Yondu by the shirt and tosses him across the stage as if the alien was nothing!
So when I get called up with a chance to deliver a blow to Loki, I don’t hesitate. I am squared up in front of actor Dave Musselman, who portrays Thor’s villainous and godlike half-brother in the show. I pull back my arm.
Then I’m told to punch an invisible parrot on Loki’s right shoulder, several inches from his actual head. “I’m the worst fighter in the world because we miss all the time,” says Castriota. “We look like we hit each other, but I would be the worst person in any bar fight. We’re taught to miss.”
Maybe my first doesn’t actually connect with any part of Loki, but he acts like it did, and that’s good enough for me.
Apparently, getting to the stage where you can be beaten up by young children (and me) isn’t easy. “Every day is a challenge,” says Caitlin Hutson, the actress who plays Natasha Romanov, aka super agent Black Widow. An Oviedo native who taught martial arts while still in high school, she joined the tour eight months ago. “I actually came to this show terrified of fire and now I have a fight with a flaming” staff.
In addition to the fight training, Hutson and the others worked with coaches on how to stand, pose and mug as the characters. “Black Widow has a very big reputation and I want to be able to do the character justice,” says Hutson, 21. “I want to make sure that she’s really strong-willed but not standoffish. … You still want to be inspiring to the kids; you don’t want to scare them away.”
Justin Jackson, who plays Captain America, says the character follows him off the stage. “I think I hold myself differently,” says the Winter Garden native. “I’ve been out and about and people say, ‘You are Captain America.’”
Jackson started as an actor portraying Loki. As he improved with stunt work, he got moved to all-around good guy Captain America. “Getting into character is important for me. When you’re portraying these characters, the costumes help a lot, but … the way you walk around the stage portrays these characters.”
For Castriota, greenskinned Gamora lingers in a different way. “I’ll go to a nice dinner and there will be green on my ears,” she says. “There’s a little bit of Gamora with me everywhere I go.”
Hilary Kadoya, who plays feisty Rocket Raccoon from Guardians, tells me that the actors spent three months at superhero boot camp. “Before we even started building the show, they brought everyone out so they could build the show around everyone’s special skills,” says the Los Angeles resident.
You might be wondering how anyone can play a raccoon on stage. “We have a brilliant, brilliant costume team,” she says.
“Our main job in the show is maintain and repair and make sure everyone gets where they need to go on time … looking as good as possible,” says Rebecca Williams, part of that costume team. “It’s a stunt show, so the costumes take a beating.”
Where are we?
This is all well and good, but can any of them tell me what universe we’re in?
“I believe it’s its own continuity,” conjectures Hutson. Castriota and Jackson agree, though now I have to wonder if Jackson’s career means that Captain America used to be Loki.
Williams says the costumes are based on the 2015 movie “Avengers: Age of Ultron,” but she says the story takes from “one of the cartoons.”
“We pull a lot from DisneyXD,” says Kadoya, referencing the animated series “Avengers Assemble.”
Maybe I’m taking this too seriously. Maybe I should just sit back and enjoy “Age of Heroes,” seeing this committed production with people pretending to be some of my favorite characters.
But then, just before I give up, I get an answer I seek! You see, playwright David Love wrote Marvel Universe Live’s script, but legendary Marvel scribe Peter David penned the tie-in comic. “My assumption is that it’s 616 [Marvel comics’ main continuity],” the writer of “Hulk: The End” told me via Twitter. “That’s what I was thinking when I wrote the comic tie-in.”
So there you have it: In the same place Peter Parker was first bitten by a radioactive spider and Bruce Banner was exposed to a gamma bomb, I, Trevor Fraser, have punched Loki in the face.
That’s the magic of theater.