Cut it out ... there really is a ‘Full House’ musical

Shawn P. Reilly as Jesse, Nicholas Lamb as Danny and Kevin Dolan as Joey in "Attend the Tale of Danny Tanner: A Full House Musical."

Updated: November 7, 2012 2:40PM

Katie Johnston-Smith, one of three co-writers of “Attend the Tale of Danny Tanner: A Full House Musical,” says that the parody show appeals to her inner child.

“I think the 8-year-old Katie wouldn’t say ‘What are you doing?’” she said, when asked about poking fun at one of her favorite television shows growing up. “I think she would say, ‘You’re having the greatest time of your life.’”

The musical, which takes comical aim at the popular television show that ran from 1987-1995, opens Nov. 9 and runs Fridays through December at Gorilla Tango’s Skokie Theatre. When it ran in Gorilla Tango’s Chicago theater, it got some social media love from series stars Dave Coulier and Jody Sweetin. Johnston-Smith even got to exchange good wishes with Coulier on Facebook.

“That was so exciting,” she said. “Twenty-five year old Katie almost peed herself. I’m sure 8-year-old Katie would have peed herself because she didn’t have as good bladder control.”

It is with this irreverence that Johnston-Smith said she and co-writers Chris Gorton and Tara Trudel tackled turning the sitcom into a musical in the vein of Stephen Sondheim’s “Sweeney Todd: the Demon Barber of Fleet Street.”

“I go back and watch (“Full House”) now, it really is so bad that it is good,” she said. “There are situations that come up that no family faces any more, things like Stephanie (the show’s middle daughter) wanting a phone in her room.”

The show’s writers set out to create a musical that appealed to both people who were fans of the show but also those who didn’t watch the show or aren’t familiar with the characters.

For the uninitiated, the lead character Danny Tanner (played on TV by Bob Saget), is a widower with three daughters. He needs help raising them, so his brother-in-law (played by former heartthrob John Stamos) and his friend (Coulier) move in with him to help raise the children.

“You’re going to see the characters in a way that you haven’t when you watched the show,” said the show’s director, Nicholas Ryan Lamb of Evanston. “I’m sure fans of the show will enjoy it.”

And they know there are enough fans to play to a full house.

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