Saturday, November 9, 2024

There will be blood

Very few theatre productions have captured the imagination and been rewarded with the kind of  audience-pleasing longevity hitherto reserved for classy, high brow, mainstream shows like “A Chorus Line”, “Les Miserables” and “Phantom of the Opera”, than the subversive, abrasive, derogatory, but utterly fun, “Rocky Horror Show”.  Indeed, 2013 will mark the 40th anniversary of the original London production.  People have been dancing the “Time Warp” from day uno, and if it weren't for my bad back (and my fear of barfing during teleportation), I'd be right there with them. . .

There have been many attempts to capitalize on the horror genre in musical theatre since then. Perhaps the most famous is the original production of Stephen King's “Carrie”.  At a cost of over seven million dollars  (in 1988), it held the reins as Broadway's biggest flop for many years.

Then, of course, there's “Repo: The Genetic Rock Opera”, which started out as a bad stage play and ended up an even worse movie (not one of Paul Sorvino's better moments; on the other hand, it may have been Paris Hilton's BEST moment as an “actress”. . .).
So while we wait for AMC's “Walking Dead: The Zombie Musical” to make it's debut sometime down the road, we have a new legitimate contender in the theatre splatter-fest genre that is fast becoming the norm in gross-out musicals that achieve cult status and make beaucoup bucks for it's investors.

In fact, as I write this, “Evil Dead: The Musical” will be playing in 25 different theatres across the United States between October and November.  Not least of which is the production at the Valentine Theatre running on Friday and Saturday nights, directed by Toledo theatre mainstay, James Norman. Performances are at both 7pm and 10pm throughout the run.

“ED: The Musical” is based on the early films of Royal Oak, Michigan's own Sam Raimi (who went on to achieve huge success with  “Darkman” and the “SpiderMan” movie franchise), namely.

“Evil Dead”, “Evil Dead II” and “Army of Darkness”, which contained equal parts horror and humor. So  popular were the movies in fact, that a remake of the first one is due out in the summer of 2013.

The plot is pretty standard for this kind of gore-a-thon festival of blood (honestly, “Sweeney Todd's got nothing on this show. . . I'm not sure if they are doing it with this production, but there used to be a “splatter zone” for all the blood that flies into the first 3 rows during the show).   Be that as it may, five college students spend the weekend in an abandoned cabin in the woods, accidentally unleashing an evil terror. In this comedic take on 1980s horror franchise, characters and demons sing and dance to songs from the original score. The character of Ash, as he does in the films, dishes out his various one liners and fights the never-ending demons.

So if you're too old for the candy scene, but too young to help mom distribute money at the front door, and want to do something out of the ordinary this Halloween, you'd be hard-pressed to find a more entertaining musical about blood, guts and . . .well. . .murder, death and the things we do for love  than “Evil Dead: The Musical” at the Valentine Theatre.

Evil Dead: The Musical runs from October 22 – November 10, 2012, Times: Friday and Saturday nights at the Valentine Theatre,
410 Adams St. Tickets are $20. 419-242-3490.
www.valentinetheatre.com.

 

Very few theatre productions have captured the imagination and been rewarded with the kind of  audience-pleasing longevity hitherto reserved for classy, high brow, mainstream shows like “A Chorus Line”, “Les Miserables” and “Phantom of the Opera”, than the subversive, abrasive, derogatory, but utterly fun, “Rocky Horror Show”.  Indeed, 2013 will mark the 40th anniversary of the original London production.  People have been dancing the “Time Warp” from day uno, and if it weren't for my bad back (and my fear of barfing during teleportation), I'd be right there with them. . .

There have been many attempts to capitalize on the horror genre in musical theatre since then. Perhaps the most famous is the original production of Stephen King's “Carrie”.  At a cost of over seven million dollars  (in 1988), it held the reins as Broadway's biggest flop for many years.

Then, of course, there's “Repo: The Genetic Rock Opera”, which started out as a bad stage play and ended up an even worse movie (not one of Paul Sorvino's better moments; on the other hand, it may have been Paris Hilton's BEST moment as an “actress”. . .).
So while we wait for AMC's “Walking Dead: The Zombie Musical” to make it's debut sometime down the road, we have a new legitimate contender in the theatre splatter-fest genre that is fast becoming the norm in gross-out musicals that achieve cult status and make beaucoup bucks for it's investors.

In fact, as I write this, “Evil Dead: The Musical” will be playing in 25 different theatres across the United States between October and November.  Not least of which is the production at the Valentine Theatre running on Friday and Saturday nights, directed by Toledo theatre mainstay, James Norman. Performances are at both 7pm and 10pm throughout the run.

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“ED: The Musical” is based on the early films of Royal Oak, Michigan's own Sam Raimi (who went on to achieve huge success with  “Darkman” and the “SpiderMan” movie franchise), namely.

“Evil Dead”, “Evil Dead II” and “Army of Darkness”, which contained equal parts horror and humor. So  popular were the movies in fact, that a remake of the first one is due out in the summer of 2013.

The plot is pretty standard for this kind of gore-a-thon festival of blood (honestly, “Sweeney Todd's got nothing on this show. . . I'm not sure if they are doing it with this production, but there used to be a “splatter zone” for all the blood that flies into the first 3 rows during the show).   Be that as it may, five college students spend the weekend in an abandoned cabin in the woods, accidentally unleashing an evil terror. In this comedic take on 1980s horror franchise, characters and demons sing and dance to songs from the original score. The character of Ash, as he does in the films, dishes out his various one liners and fights the never-ending demons.

So if you're too old for the candy scene, but too young to help mom distribute money at the front door, and want to do something out of the ordinary this Halloween, you'd be hard-pressed to find a more entertaining musical about blood, guts and . . .well. . .murder, death and the things we do for love  than “Evil Dead: The Musical” at the Valentine Theatre.

Evil Dead: The Musical runs from October 22 – November 10, 2012, Times: Friday and Saturday nights at the Valentine Theatre,
410 Adams St. Tickets are $20. 419-242-3490.
www.valentinetheatre.com.

 

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