There have rarely been theatre shows that parody horror movies, often because it’s difficult to achieve the same effects of blood and gore on a stage. “Evil Dead: The Musical” is an exception to the rule and will be playing at the 10th Avenue Theatre and Arts in downtown San Diego through Nov. 2.
This amusing interpretation is a spoof of the original Sam Raimi cult classic. The production is small, and features some of San Diego State’s very own.
Carlyn Thometz is a mathematics junior who choreographed the entire show and plays a dumb blond named Shelly. She portrays the vintage bimbo well on stage.
The other SDSU actress in ”Evil Dead: The Musical” is Theater Arts junior Peyton Pierce. She plays the headstrong female, Annie, who just happens to have a weakness for big strong men.
Although Pierce’s performance is excellent, the character is written as being aggressively bossy and ridiculously overbearing, which isn’t always fun to watch. This issue is because of George Reinblatt’s book, not Pierce’s acting.
The adventure as a whole is well put together, despite a few moments that were uncomfortably distasteful. Much of the comedy aspects were was based on crude jokes, which are actually quite funny—for the most part. The one moment that was not necessary was an awkward reenactment of an infamous scene from the original film involving a demonically possessed tree graphically attacking one of the main characters, Cheryl (Julie Mead). Although it’s an important part in the flick, the visuals on stage were a bit too strange and gratuitous as opposed to being clever and cheeky.
Great directing by Stacey Allen helped keep events consistently enjoyable. His entertaining vision kept flaws from getting in the way of the action packed plot.
A strong element to the Theater Alive! production is the splatter zone. The first three rows were provided with ponchos, and were promised that they would be splattered with fake blood and guts throughout the performance. A mini spoiler is coming up. Though this did come true, it was on a smaller scale than expected until the shockingly satisfying final moments.
This Halloween, taking a night out to have a few laughs in downtown is perfect because of how well “Evil Dead: The Musical” fits in with the spooky holiday.
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Photo courtesy of Vicky Mackenzie
