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Set and cast bring dead to life
0BY LOUIS HOBSON ,CALGARY SUN
Evil Dead: The Musical
Artist: Bart Kwiatkowski and Alyssa Billingsley
Location: Pumphouse Theatre
For a musical about the undead, Evil Dead the Musical has a heck of a lot of life in it.
It may be crass, corny, violent, vulgar and outrageous but it’s also howlingly funny.
Evil Dead the Musical, which opened in Toronto in 2003, is simultaneously a spoof on horror movies and musicals.
Its source material is Sam Raimi’s 1981 cult movie Evil Dead and its three sequels about an ancient evil demon that is unwittingly unleashed upon the world by five college students who decide to spend their spring break in a remote cabin in the woods.
There is no subtle moment in the show and there’s no level to which it won’t stoop to get a laugh or a groan.
Evil Dead the Musical was originally staged in Calgary in 2009 by producers Joel Cochrane and Ryan Luhning, who are also at the helm of this revival running at Pumphouse Theatre until Sept. 8.
It’s not as slick a production as the original, but it is still a bloody good night out for fans of horror movies and subversive entertainment.
It boasts a strong ensemble cast under the knowing hands of director Mike Griffin, musical director Susan Lexa and choreographer Amber Bissonnette, who struts her talents on stage as Linda, the S-Mart employee who is on the sojourn with her boyfriend Ash (Bart Kwiatkowski).
Triple-threat doesn’t begin to describe Kwiatkowski’s central performance as the humble clerk who becomes the saviour of mankind.
Kwiatkowski can belt out the silly lyrics of songs such as Housewares Employee (with Bissonnette) or What the Blazes Was That? (with Eric Wigston) with as much conviction as power and that’s not easy.
Wigston’s Scott is the frat boy with a foul mouth and raging hormones, yet, as vulgar as he is, there is something endearing about Wigston stopping you from wanting to wash his mouth out with lye.
Alyssa Billingsley, who plays Scott’s ditzy girlfriend Shelly and the no-nonsense archeologist Annie, has the show’s best number in the doo wop song All the Men in My Life and boy does Billingsley make it a show-stopper with great help from Kwiatkowski and Brent Gill as back-up singers.
One of the things making Evil Dead the Musical so much fun is the cabin set has as much life as any actor.
There’s a singing moose, a dancing beaver, walls swallowing characters, a trap door leading to hell and every time the poor characters try to leave the cabin, some piece of furniture comes to life to stop them.
There’s also Ash’s dismembered hand rushing around the set causing havoc and a chainsaw Ash straps to the stump of his arm. And yes, it is as silly as it all sounds and that’s what makes it such bloody good fun.
My biggest quibble with this Evil Dead the Musical has more to do with the structure and writing of the play as it does with the production.
The action keeps shifting from the cabin to the woods and that requires blackouts, making the first act in particular choppy.
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Evil Dead celebrates the lighter side of horror — with music
Read more:http://www.calgaryherald.com/entertainment/theatre/Evil+Dead+celebrates+lighter+side+horror+with+music/7108072/story.html#ixzz25To7CJ9e
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Evil Dead a Bloody Fun Show
Theatre Review by Jason Clevett
From September 2012 (Online)
Perma-link: http://www.gaycalgary.com/a3064 [copy]
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Evil Dead Poster
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Let's start with the most important role in the show – Ash. Relative newcomer Bart Kwiatkowski (a grade 6 teacher I can only assume gets called "Mr. K") was outstanding in Avenue Q at Storybook Theatre earlier this year, and nails it in Evil Dead. His evolution from geeky S-Mart employee to chainsaw wielding badass is a thing to behold and he more then lives up to both the previous stage incarnation and the original performance of Bruce Campbell. Eric Wigston's character, Scott, ramps up the sleaze and plays the douchebag to a hilt. Brent Gill steals his scenes as redneck Jake, and Alyssa Billingsley plays up the wink and nudge of Annie and Shelly well. The cast is rounded out by Mallory Minerson as the cellar taunting Cheryl, Amber Bissonnette as Linda, and Peter Fernandes as Ed. Kelsey Flower can be heard and seen making various things come to life as well.
A little rougher around the edges, this production of Evil Dead: The Musical fits in well in the old pumphouse, and is great for a fun night of laughs and bloodshed. Fans of the movies will have a blast reciting lines like "Good... bad... I'm the guy with the gun" and "shop smart, shop S-Mart!" Splatterzone tickets are all gone, but other seats including rush tickets are available at the pumphouse box office. The demons will be banished after the September 8th performance.
Evil Dead: The Musical
Pumphouse Theatre until Sept 8th
*******
Theatre: EVIL DEAD THE MUSICALAug 17 , 2012
Category:
It's almost a decade since EVIL DEAD THE MUSICAL opened in Toronto.
It was an instant hit with audiences and critics alike and for good reason. It simultaneoulsy makes fun of horror movies and musicals.
Like its source, the Sam Raimi films, EVIL DEAD THE MUSICAL is violent, crude and deliciously subversive.
Five college students decide to spend their spring break in a remote cabin in the woods where they unwittingly unleash an ancient demon and its hordes.
Hey didn't we just have a new horror flick this year called CABIN IN THE WOODS which relies on precisely the same set up. Like zombies, horror movie cliches keep rising from the dead.
The whole idea of evil unleashed upon humanity is nothing to sing about but then again neither were the premises behind THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW and LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS which clearly inspired EVIL DEAD THE MUSICAL in its style of humour, music and characters.
I'm not saying anything the creators don't blare aloud in the big zombie dance number "Do the Necronomicon" when the zombies claim their dance is better than the Time Warp (from Rocky Horror).
When EVIL DEAD THE MUSICAL played in Caglary in 2009 it was an enormous hit so it was (like the zombies themselves) a no-brainer for producers Joel Cochrane and Ryan Luhning to bring it back.
Their new version which runs at the Pumphouse until Sept 8 may not be as slick as the original but it's every bit as much fun. It's still howlingly funny and it boasts three very impressive performances.
That's not to say the entire cast is not talented but the trio of Bart Kwiatkowski, Alyssa Billingsley and Eric Wigston are pure dynamite.
Kwiatkowski plays Ash, the S-Mart employee who (literally) straps on a chainsaw to become the saviour of mankind. Triple-threat doesn't begin to describe what Kwiatkowski can do. He can belt out corny songs like "I'm Not a Killer", "What the F Was That? (with Wigston) and Housewares Employee (with Amber Bissonnette) with as much conviction as power. He's just as adept with punch lines and mock melodrama. The only thing is I wish is that he'd made his Ash even nerdier at the beginning so his transformation into action hero would have been more impressive.
As the vulgar-mouthed frat boy Scott, Wigson is saddled with dialogue that would make a sailor blush and yet he delivers it with such flare that you don't have the urge to go up there on stage and wash his mouth out with lye. Like Kwiatkowski he has powerful pipes and he's no slouch when it comes to dancing, even if he has to keep adjusting his intestines.
Then there's Billingsley who plays Scott's ditzy girlfriend Shelly and the no-nonsense archeologist Annie. Billingsley has the show's best number, the doo wop song"All the Men in My Life" and she makes it a genuine show-stopper with Kwiatkowski and Brent Gill as her back-up singers.
Peter Fernandes plays Annie's hen-pecked boyfriend Ed and he gets what I like to call the show's Mr. Cellophane number. When Fernandes sings about being "A Bit Part Demon" he makes it truly sad sack and he even gets a soft-shoe shuffle mid song.
The thing about EVIL DEAD THE MUSICAL that adds so much to the fun are the technical effects. The set literally comes to life. There's a singing moose and every time the characters try to leave the cabin, some part of the set springs to life to prevent them and a wall even gives way to swallow up one of the characters. There's also Ash's severed hand and most of these effects and their voices are courtesy of Kelsey Flower.
The only effect which director Mike Griffin and his crew don't seem to have a handle on is the blood splatter. They needed to have the actors wear blood bags that could squirt blood all over the front rows from various parts of their bodies and you just know where Wigson's Scott should blast the audience from. It's not enough to have the actors run around dumping blood on the front two rows. It needs to be more clever than that.
The other problem I have with this EVIL DEAD THE MUSICAL is a fault more of the play itself than the production.
The action (especially in the first act) keeps switching back-and-forth between the cabin and the woods which necessitates black outs to change scenery. Those black outs make the first act seem really choppy.
But all that's just quibbling when the audience is having such bloody good fun.
FOUR STARS
(For another view of EVIL DEAD check out Jessica Goodman at applause-meter.com)
| Blogs |Louis Hobson | Calgary XL103FM |
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Category:
It's almost a decade since EVIL DEAD THE MUSICAL opened in Toronto.
It was an instant hit with audiences and critics alike and for good reason. It simultaneoulsy makes fun of horror movies and musicals.
Like its source, the Sam Raimi films, EVIL DEAD THE MUSICAL is violent, crude and deliciously subversive.
Five college students decide to spend their spring break in a remote cabin in the woods where they unwittingly unleash an ancient demon and its hordes.
Hey didn't we just have a new horror flick this year called CABIN IN THE WOODS which relies on precisely the same set up. Like zombies, horror movie cliches keep rising from the dead.
The whole idea of evil unleashed upon humanity is nothing to sing about but then again neither were the premises behind THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW and LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS which clearly inspired EVIL DEAD THE MUSICAL in its style of humour, music and characters.
I'm not saying anything the creators don't blare aloud in the big zombie dance number "Do the Necronomicon" when the zombies claim their dance is better than the Time Warp (from Rocky Horror).
When EVIL DEAD THE MUSICAL played in Caglary in 2009 it was an enormous hit so it was (like the zombies themselves) a no-brainer for producers Joel Cochrane and Ryan Luhning to bring it back.
Their new version which runs at the Pumphouse until Sept 8 may not be as slick as the original but it's every bit as much fun. It's still howlingly funny and it boasts three very impressive performances.
That's not to say the entire cast is not talented but the trio of Bart Kwiatkowski, Alyssa Billingsley and Eric Wigston are pure dynamite.
Kwiatkowski plays Ash, the S-Mart employee who (literally) straps on a chainsaw to become the saviour of mankind. Triple-threat doesn't begin to describe what Kwiatkowski can do. He can belt out corny songs like "I'm Not a Killer", "What the F Was That? (with Wigston) and Housewares Employee (with Amber Bissonnette) with as much conviction as power. He's just as adept with punch lines and mock melodrama. The only thing is I wish is that he'd made his Ash even nerdier at the beginning so his transformation into action hero would have been more impressive.
As the vulgar-mouthed frat boy Scott, Wigson is saddled with dialogue that would make a sailor blush and yet he delivers it with such flare that you don't have the urge to go up there on stage and wash his mouth out with lye. Like Kwiatkowski he has powerful pipes and he's no slouch when it comes to dancing, even if he has to keep adjusting his intestines.
Then there's Billingsley who plays Scott's ditzy girlfriend Shelly and the no-nonsense archeologist Annie. Billingsley has the show's best number, the doo wop song"All the Men in My Life" and she makes it a genuine show-stopper with Kwiatkowski and Brent Gill as her back-up singers.
Peter Fernandes plays Annie's hen-pecked boyfriend Ed and he gets what I like to call the show's Mr. Cellophane number. When Fernandes sings about being "A Bit Part Demon" he makes it truly sad sack and he even gets a soft-shoe shuffle mid song.
The thing about EVIL DEAD THE MUSICAL that adds so much to the fun are the technical effects. The set literally comes to life. There's a singing moose and every time the characters try to leave the cabin, some part of the set springs to life to prevent them and a wall even gives way to swallow up one of the characters. There's also Ash's severed hand and most of these effects and their voices are courtesy of Kelsey Flower.
The only effect which director Mike Griffin and his crew don't seem to have a handle on is the blood splatter. They needed to have the actors wear blood bags that could squirt blood all over the front rows from various parts of their bodies and you just know where Wigson's Scott should blast the audience from. It's not enough to have the actors run around dumping blood on the front two rows. It needs to be more clever than that.
The other problem I have with this EVIL DEAD THE MUSICAL is a fault more of the play itself than the production.
The action (especially in the first act) keeps switching back-and-forth between the cabin and the woods which necessitates black outs to change scenery. Those black outs make the first act seem really choppy.
But all that's just quibbling when the audience is having such bloody good fun.
FOUR STARS
(For another view of EVIL DEAD check out Jessica Goodman at applause-meter.com)
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