Wed, 7 Feb 2007
Goodbye Evil Dead: The Musical
Unfortunately, Evil Dead: The Musical is closing. I will be sad to see it go, but hopefully it will find a home elsewhere.
posted at: 12:23 | category: theater | permanent link to this entry
Tue, 19 Dec 2006
Last night I saw Evil Dead: The Musical at the New World Stages. In short, it was amazingly ridiculous. The entire show takes "not taking itself too seriously" to a new level. The story follows the plot of Evil Dead and Evil Dead 2, with some of the most popular lines from Army of Darkness thrown in to please the crowd. Though the fourth wall isn't ever directly broken, the musical is filled to the brim with references to the essence of the whole thing (such as characters acting confused about the choreography they're performing). And everything is simply done completely over the top, from the incredibly campy lines to the coreography to the immense amount of fake blood and gore.
The writing in particular is just ludicrous. For instance, one of the songs starts with "God damn you bitch / You fucking stabbed me!", sung in full-on musical style. Everything is like that, taking every cheap laugh and stupid idea to its most extreme extent, which turns out absolutely hilarious if you're into that kind of thing.
In particular, the guy doing Ash is the spitting image of Bruce Campbell in almost every way. The only qualm I had was that he really can't deliver Campbell's lines the way Campbell does, but he tries to do so, which leads to a few lines (such as "Lady, I'm going to have to ask you to leave the store") that sort of fall flat. But otherwise, he's just awesome.
Overall, it's highly recommended.
posted at: 19:03 | category: theater | permanent link to this entry
Thu, 16 Nov 2006
My sister got tickets.
So. Awesome.
posted at: 23:33 | category: theater | permanent link to this entry
I got a chance to see Spring Awakening last night at an invitation-only dress rehearsal, because my sister is way better connected than I am.
The musical is based on a play written by Frank Wedekind in 1891, and it explores the sexual experiences of a set of teenagers in a German town that's heavily religious. When the play was originally released, it was banned in a number of locations, as it contains scenes that involve masturbation, sex, homosexuality, and suicide.
Considering how long ago the play was written, it's remarkable how well the messages reverberate in the modern day. The musical adaptation is quite faithful to the original; it maintains the original 1892 setting, and while it rearranges when some events occur, the majority of the content exists in the original.
The most striking thing about the musical is the contrast between the setting and the score, which is modern rock. The first time the cast breaks into song, the transition is really startling. The score is excellent, though, and by the middle of the first act the switches are expected and not jarring at all. I actually think the choice of score is a good one, as it helps show how the characters could fit in the modern day despite being set a hundred years in the past.
The cast for the show is great. The major characters are all incredibly good, though there are some weaknesses in the minor characters. In particular, the scene in which Ernst and Hanschen kiss seemed rather weak, but that may have been preview jitters, since this was the first time the cast had played to a full Broadway-sized crowd. The major characters didn't seem to have any trouble, with the climactic scenes being downright heart wrenching.
Technically, there were some minor sound mishaps, such as a buzz in a microphone or volume difficulties, but it was solid overall. The lighting in particular was exceptional. The design uses a number of different effects that are elegant while being striking, such as a set of lights that drop in from above and illicit an image of stars or fireflies. The majority of the show is lit more traditionally, though, so the new effects maintain their sparkle and don't overwhelm the audience with a "look what we can do now that we're on Broadway!" feeling. The set is sparsely decorated, but with a couple tricks I won't reveal that are nice touches.
All that said, I'm not sure how well Spring Awakening will play. It definitely has the potential to follow in the footsteps of a Rent or Avenue Q. On the other hand, it could end up falling by the wayside as another teen angst show. For my money, though, it's an excellent show that's well worth seeing.
posted at: 12:07 | category: theater | permanent link to this entry
Mon, 30 Oct 2006
One of the best things about being in New York City is the theatre. The sheer volume of it is just astounding. And being both a theatre geek and the brother of a dancer and arts organization employee, I'm fortunate in that I get a chance to see a lot of different stuff.
Today I went to see a reading of A Living History of Revivalism and Socialism Amongst the Harpist Community at Eminence, Indiana. In case you're not familiar with the concept, a reading is just what it sounds like. The actors sit in chairs and read the script, with a narrator reading the scene descriptions and stage directions so that you have an idea of what's going on. Obviously, it's a very different experience than seeing a show. It's much more like having a novel read to you than it is traditional theatre. It's also a much more intimate experience, since there tend not to be many folks there (this one had maybe 30 people in attendance).
I actually very much enjoyed the reading. The play is a small affair; there are only four on-stage characters, plus one more major and a couple minor characters that are only heard over the telephone. There are some sections that didn't work well, but mostly that was because they are clearly built for the stage and didn't come through with the narrating of the stage directions (for instance, when it takes several sentences to describe a movement an actor will take a couple seconds to do, reading the stage directions throws the rhythm off). The actors themselves were quite excellent in their roles, really breathing life into the characters, despite the lack of costume or makeup.
As far as the play itself, it was worthy of the treatment these actors were providing it. I don't want to ruin it, so I won't discuss the plot, but it brings up some very interesting questions regarding faith, the treatment of people as commodities or sources of power, and our view and treatment of history. There are a couple rough spots and areas it could be tightened up a little, but overall it holds together surprisingly well.
I have some doubts as to how well the play will transfer to the actual stage, though. As I said, the general feeling is of a small affair, a close look into the lives of these four characters. However, the book currently calls for fairly expansive sets and set pieces, and I think they'll run into difficulty because of that. If they manage to go all out and do everything, the intimate feeling of being right inside the lives of these characters has a good chance of being lost. On the other hand, there are some images in the play that seem to really require an expansive set dressing in order to achieve their full impact. I'll be interested in seeing what decision they make.
Overall, it was a very pleasant outing, and I look forward to the play developing further and hopefully seeing it again on stage.
posted at: 02:11 | category: theater | permanent link to this entry