When ‘The Simpsons’ Turned ‘Planet of the Apes’ Into a Musical

“I love legitimate theater.”

One of The Simpsons best classic episodes, “A Fish Called Selma” featured an amazing parody of Broadway with its Planet of the Apes stage musical. Josh Weinstein, who was a writer/producer for The Simpsons from 1992–1998, told Vulture, “On a personal note, it’s one of my favorite things ever, because it’s The Simpsons firing on all pistons. It’s everything the show wants to be, just like Troy McClure says about Jub-Jub: He’s everywhere you want him to be. This musical is everything the show should be and wants to be, and that’s why I think it’s great.” (An Oral History of The Simpsons’ Classic Planet of the Apes Musical | Vulture)

The Simpsons - Planet of the Apes (the musical) starring Troy McClure

Found in The Simpsons episode 19 of season 7, the episode revolves around Troy McClure, an actor who wants to cut off rumors about his personal life by marrying Marge Simpson’s sister. He also wants to revive his acting career, so he’s thrilled to star in Stop the Planet of the Apes. I Want to Get Off!

Here’s more info about the episode

More on Monster Complex

Chris Well

Chris Well been a writer pretty much his entire life. (Well, since his childhood.) Over the years, he has worked in newspapers, magazines, radio, and books. He now is the chief of the website Monster Complex, celebrating monster stories in lit and pop culture. He also writes horror comedy fiction that embraces Universal Monsters, 1960s sitcoms, 1980s action movies, and the X-Files.

https://chriswell.substack.com/
Previous
Previous

N.D. Jones interview: “I prefer to view my approach to paranormal fiction as a broadening of the genre.”

Next
Next

Q&A: Stephanie M. Wytovich on Writing Poetry in the Dark: “I wanted to put together the book that I wanted to read when I first started out.”