FBI trainee Clarice Starling has to track down notorious serial killer Buffalo Bill before he claims another innocent victim – but can she sing and dance while she’s doing it?



That’s kind of the question in Silence! The Musical, a raunchy musical spoof (warning: vulgarity!) of the 1991 Oscar-winning Silence of the Lambs, that opens Falcon Theatre’s season beginning September 25. (And we can’t resist pointing out Silence! killed at the 2005 New York Fringe Festival before going on to a healthy Off-Broadway run in 2011.)



But we have even better questions for brilliant, if cannibalistic, psychiatrist and serial killer Hannibal Lecter, too.



Luckily, talented local actor/writer/producer Mike Hall plays Hannibal and mined his inner Lecter to give us the answers.

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RCN: If you weren't an epicurean serial killer, would you have been a song & dance man?



Hannibal: I did my time on the summer stock circuit after my undergraduate education. I played Ali Hakim in an unfortunate production of Oklahoma at the San Juan Capistrano Theatre Collective.



I say unfortunate because all I could manage to devour was the left pinkie of the actress who played Laurey when an errant tour jéte landed her in my arms during the Dream Ballet. The best part about that was she thought it was Jud, and took it as a sign that she might actually enjoy S&M.



Last I heard, she was fitted for a rubber suit, wore it home, and her Samoyed mistook her for a new giant chew toy… Ah well. Choices.



RCN: Do your fans learn anything about you through your songs?



Hannibal: Plenty to be learned, if you listen. But I am afraid you cannot print the title of my aria that tells the most about me. Such a shame we live in this politically correct society. Guess you'll just have to buy a ticket.





RCN: What's your favorite lamb dish?



Hannibal: Lamb vindaloo. What? Oh, you were expecting something crazy. My diet isn't all people, you know. And stop asking about the Fava beans, we all know.



RCN: What will the audience want to sing along to?



Hannibal: I'm guessing they will be wanting for someone to sing The Sound of Music once they have heard my first tune. Not because of my voice, which is a thing of beauty, it's more the content.



Put on your big girl panties, is what I am telling you right now. And if my saying that offends you, well... I hear The Lion King is still running.



RCN: We hear there are dancing sheep?



Hannibal: This is correct. Lambs, to be exact. We apologize for all the puns, but we'll do our best to stop the bleating.



RCN: Have you ever tried speed dating?



Hannibal: I was never much for courtship, and I avoid taking stimulants.

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For the record, Hall says what tickles him about Silence! Is that the parody is “on point.” Silence! parodies the film – Hall believes audiences like it whether they’ve seen the movie or read the book -- “but there's a good amount of poking fun at musicals themselves, so the music ranges from operetta to Motown to every musical you've ever seen!”



SILENCE! The Musical, Sept. 25-Oct. 10. Falcon Theatre, 636 Monmouth St., Newport. 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday. Tickets $20, students $15. 513-479-6783 and here (Service fee for online orders).

Written by Jackie Demaline, RCN Arts

Photos by Mikki Schaffner (provided)