Space Dogs: The Musical premiered off-Broadway in 2022 and is having its first outing in London this summer. Written and performed by veteran performers Van Hughes and Nick Blaemire, and directed by Will Blum, the show tells the true story of Laika, a stray dog from Moscow and the rocket scientist who sent her to space on Sputnik 2 during the Cold War.
Hughes and Blaemire are hugely talented and full of energy. They cover dozens of roles each, switching from Americans to Russians, scientists to dogs with ease, and without any supporting cast – unless you count the 40 stuffed toy dogs that represent the stray dogs rounded up to become unlikely cosmonauts.
The full story of the space dog and the ‘Chief Designer’ of the Russian space programme was classified until 2002, and there is a lot of Cold War history to get through. Original songs, comedy set pieces and an array of clever props are used to bring it all to light. It’s slightly chaotic at times, but it is the well-crafted songs that bring the show back together. With perfect harmonies, Hughes and Blaemire demonstrate an impressive skill set, singing soft rock, power ballads, and even rap songs, while accompanying themselves on electric guitars, acoustic guitar and keyboards – they even both play the same keyboard at the same time on one number.
There is no denying that it is a fascinating story as we watch the relationship develop between the Chief Designer and the dog against the backdrop of the Russian/American ‘space race’ and the era of ‘Mutually Assured Destruction,” when nuclear missiles were poised to wipe out life on earth. Some of us lived through the Cold War but for the younger audiences, there’s a lot of exposition to cram in and at times it had the feel of a Bill & Ted movie as our intrepid duo bounced around through history.
The show veered from breakneck delivery to overly repetitive in its 1hr 25 minutes, no interval format. It is simply too long, and it really needs to be timed to a tight 60-minute, Edinburgh Fringe format.
But the biggest problem is that the Space Dogs doesn’t really seem to know what it wants to be. With their jolly bonhomie, high-energy performances and songs that wouldn’t be entirely out of place on an episode of Sesame Street (“dogs were the first animal to be domesticated” etc), there is the perfect family show struggling to get out of this piece if they remove the f-bombs and c-word, which seemed entirely unnecessary. The enthusiasm and inventiveness with which Hughes and Blaemire deliver this story would give them a ready-made audience – it’s not rocket science to know that children love anything to do with space and with cute dogs.
This is an enjoyable show performed by two very talented and likeable performers, but it is somewhat protracted, and I’m not sure who their target market is in this current format. Space Dogs: The Musical has so much more potential to entertain, educate and capture audiences, but in its current state it is shooting for the moon and splashing down wide of the mark.
Review by Fiona Gilbert
SPACE DOGS is an epic new musical that tells the mind-blowing-yet-true story of Laika and the Chief Designer — a stray dog and the top-secret Russian scientist who sent her to the stars during the Cold War Space Race.
The rock musical docu-comedy is a two-hander written by Van Hughes and Nick Blaemire, who play and sing all the songs, as well as all of the characters: the Chief Designer, Laika, various high-level politicians and covert scientists, and 40 Russian dogs, using puppets, props and imagination.
SPACE DOGS is a sweeping, kaleidoscopic tale of invention, betrayal, international political intrigue, and the immortal friendship that exists between man and dog, as they journey together to the stars.
SPACE DOGS: THE MUSICAL
The Other Palace
28 July to 9 August 2026
