The unique show was performed by Gregg Hammer and Louis Pardo, who also wrote and starred, at the Phoenix Theatre Company. The show is a part of the Company’s 105th season, making it the first and oldest theater company in Phoenix. The musical was performed in the Hardes Theater, a small, intimate theater, and there were only about 10 empty seats scattered around the otherwise full house.

Hammer and Pardo are longtime friends, dating back to when they met in the fall of 2004 at Cal State Fullerton. Michelle Chin writes in the Dramaturgy Note, which is in the program given out prior to the show, that after college, they were both cast in the national tour of “Jesus Christ Superstar,” and their backstage antics inspired them to try their hand at writing something of their own. The duo began developing what is now known as “We Ain’t Ever Gonna Break Up: The Hymon & Parfunkel Musical” in 2014, and over the 10 years since then, they have brought versions of the show to the Chance Theatre in California and the Chance Theatre’s On the Radar New Works Program. Finally, in 2024, their show found a home at the Phoenix Theatre Company.

Despite the long development that the show went through, it definitely had its weak spots. At times, the story felt flat, leaving us wondering what the true intentions of the songs or dialogue are. Often, during our viewing of the show, the jokes failed to land, and the audience’s half-chuckles felt more like a required response than a genuine reaction. 

To add to the craziness, when Hammer and Pardo took on roles other than the titular characters, the acting felt strained and confused, like the actors did not know where Hymon and Parfunkel ended and the other characters began. Additionally, when we say hand puppet wife, we mean hand puppet wife. Pardo’s character, Bart Parfunkel, married a woman named Jomantha, played by Parfunkel’s right hand. This gag was initially comedic but became confusing as the audience wondered why Jomantha even existed. Was she intended to mirror Parfunkel’s ‘mommy baggage’ as Hammer’s Saul Hymon deemed it?

Side note: Jomantha gives birth to Parfunkel’s child, and the show continuously raises questions about the child’s paternity. The culprit: Hymon!

Additionally, Parfunkel had “daddy issues” as his father, or “his Carl,” as he began calling him, left when he was a child. Identical to the gag with Jomantha, Pardo’s right hand plays Parfunkel’s father, making the joke feel overused and not as funny as they had likely been intended.

Both Hymon and Parfunkel are troubled men. At one point in the show, Parfunkel sends Hymon to a mental institution for a carnival game addiction. Later in the show, Parfunkel signs his friend up for an anti-war songwriting competition- unknowingly (or just carelessly) sending him straight to Vietnam as part of a war song competition. Whether or not Parfunkel knew the complete story about the competition, sending his friend to fight in the Vietnam War made for a very uncomfortable segment of the show. This gag results in a “Fortunate Son” adjacent original song about Hymon’s experience in Vietnam.

At one point in the show, the duo reads several horse-related jokes to the audience. There is no context for this bit. We don’t know either.

Towards the end of the show, the duo, while estranged and only recently reunited, appears on Hymon’s children’s show. Parfunkel is a special guest on the episode, much to Hymon’s chagrin and annoyance, and proceeds to sing a song about the importance of separating clothes when doing laundry. This leads to a quite racist and unfunny bit that does not need to be repeated. The bit felt awkward.

When the show ended, it felt like a sigh of relief from the audience, or at least from us, that the musical was over and the confusion had ceased.

Take a trip down a spoon-solo-filled lane here: https://phoenixtheatre.com/the-season/we-aint-ever-gonna-break-hymon-parfunkel-musical