By John Quinn
If I may take a page from the playbook of Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart, I shall not today attempt further to define "camp" – but I know it when I see it, and the musical involved in this review is definitely that. On a personal note: I like camp when I see it. "Evil Dead: The Musical" is a raucous, raunchy utterly hilarious homage to writer and director Sam Raimi's '80s trilogy of slasher films. Successfully produced last year by Who Wants Cake? at the Ringwald Theatre in Ferndale, the "dead" have staggered down Woodward to haunt the larger space of the City Theatre.
Ash Williams and his kid sister Cheryl, Ash's girlfriend Linda, his best friend Scott and HIS girl Shelly take off for a spring break at a desolate mountain cabin. Prying through the cabin owner's belongings, they turn up an ancient Book of the Dead and unwittingly awaken an evil force dormant in the woods. If you're up to date on your basic bloody horror film, you already know the drill. Nice young people turned into evil Candarian demons; murder, blood, gore, corpses reanimated to continue the carnage – just your typical late-night double feature picture show.
"Evil Dead: The Musical" skewers the genre and all its stereotypes, roasts it and serves it up like shish-kabob on a splattered platter. It has been described as the only musical with a "splatter zone." Indeed. The first three rows are reserved for the brave (or foolhardy) willing to risk the torrents of blood spewing from the stage. Please note, though, that some five rows of seats have been slip-covered in Hefty Bags and dress accordingly. Sharpen your "CSI" skills and guess if you're getting hit by weapon castoff, gravitational staining or arterial spurting.
It should come as no surprise that the show has picked up a cult following, and there will be patrons who know the show better than you do. In fact, in classic "Rocky Horror" fashion, the dedicated "Deadites" will chorus some of the catch phrases. Even if you're seeing it for the first time, it's like going to a party not knowing anybody and ending up feeling right at home.
The book and lyrics by George Reinblatt are never subtle, frequently profane and consistently funny. Marrying a musical score to slash-and-stab horror seems "a tad inconsistent," but when it works, it works well. The play is, however, a technical nightmare and it is remarkable how all involved make it look so slick. "Sleight of hand" is an appropriate description here in more ways than one, but "losing one's head" is only done for our enjoyment. Director Joe Plambeck, who has kept this bloody show on course for both area productions, is the successful mastermind of this mayhem.
Also returning this season is Mitchell Koory, winner of the 2010 Wilde Award for Best Actor in a Musical for his first turn as our hero, Ash. An actor taking this role needs to be singer/dancer/actor/athlete, and Koory scores in every category. Also returning is Christa Coulter as Cheryl, an audience favorite. Since Cheryl is the first character doomed to Candarian demonhood, Coulter has first crack at shedding niceness and showing us what evil's all about. She makes the most of her advantage. In addition, Cheryl's one liners are so bad they can only be described as – evil.
Rounding out the cast are Allyson Ortwein as Linda, Tim Kay as the sex-crazed Scott, Leah Victoria in the dual role of Shelly and Anne, Jeff Bobick as Anne's boyfriend Ed and "good old reliable Jake" David Schoen. Don't blink or you will miss David Woitulewicz as Professor Knowby. These are great voices all in solos and duets, less so in chorus – they're a little muddled in parts due to the nature of the theater and Jerry Haines vigorous choreography. If you think singing and dancing at the same time isn't hard, you've got another thing coming.
Here's a thought! "Evil Dead: The Musical" and other shows might become like "A Christmas Carol" for Halloween! I've always wanted to take a chain saw to that Tiny Tim kid.
SPECIAL REVIEW:
'Evil Dead: The Musical'
Who Wants Cake? at City Theatre, 2301 Woodward Ave, Detroit. Friday-Sunday through Oct. 31. $30 general admission; $35 reserved "splatter" seats. 1-800-745-3000. http://www.whowantscaketheatre.com.
