Review: EVIL DEAD THE MUSICAL at Columbia Entertainment Company

I sat one row behind the Splatter Zone at Columbia Entertainment Company's "Evil Dead The Musical," and I still went home with fake blood on my clothes, which, in case you’re nervous, does come out in the wash. Consider that the first piece of practical advice in this review.

CEC's production, directed by Drew McCoy, is a loud, gory and frequently hilarious staging of the cult horror musical, carried by a strong ensemble and an excellent band. It runs through Nov. 8, and it is exactly the kind of thing Halloween season is for.

"Evil Dead The Musical" began as a 2003 workshop in Toronto, where it went on to win the Dora Audience Choice Award, before running Off-Broadway at New World Stages in 2006 and 2007. George Reinblatt wrote the book and lyrics, with music by Frank Cipolla, Christopher Bond, Melissa Morris and Reinblatt. A New York Times critic called it "the next ‘Rocky Horror Show,’" and its cult following has kept it in steady production ever since.

The show adapts Sam Raimi's horror films, with the first act drawn from 1981's "The Evil Dead" and the second from "Evil Dead II." Five college students spend spring break in an abandoned cabin in the woods. Ash, a housewares employee at S-Mart, brings his girlfriend Linda and his sister Cheryl. His friend Scott brings Shelly, a woman he has just met. They find a book bound in human flesh and a tape recording of an incantation nobody should have played, and the woods take it from there, with the body count continuing to climb.

The show knows exactly what it is. CEC recommends it for ages 16 and up for strong language, crude sexual humor and simulated gore, and patrons seated in the Splatter Zone are sprayed with water-based stage blood.

Dakota McWhorter portrays Ash, the humble store worker who must rise to the occasion, and his performance only gets stronger, like the forces of evil, as the evening continues. Bruce Campbell made Ash a cult icon on film, and McWhorter often pays homage through his performance. As the absurdity and murders ramp up into the second act, he finds moments of brilliance as his own interpretation of Ash shines through.

Sophia Weis gives the evening's showpiece performance as Annie. The role is one of the show's largest, and Weis sings it beautifully; her high note in "Ode to an Accidental Stabbing" is the vocal peak of the night, leaving me with chills. She is also very funny, letting Annie adjust to each new horror with exasperated practicality, and she plays the attraction that develops between Annie and Ash with just enough sincerity to make it both absorbing and ridiculous.

Logan Trask makes the most of the show's best running joke. Ed arrives as the kind of character who barely gets a line, and the joke is that only once he is possessed does he finally get a number of his own, and even the opportunity to introduce himself. Trask turns "Bit Part Demon" into a showstopper, climbing over seats to get into audience members' faces, with a voice that more than earns the spotlight. The contrast between the two halves of his performance is a pleasure to watch.

Nikki Scheulen gets less stage time as Linda than she deserves, since the character does not survive the first act, but she still manages to make every minute count. Her "Housewares Employee" with Ash is convincing romance and sharp comedy at once, and her dancing is precise and fully committed. She is a genuine triple threat.

Klaye Byndom is a comic delight as Shelly. Her ditzy character’s jokes are delivered with impeccable timing, and her eventual shift as the demons claim her soul is a sharp contrast to the innocence she brings earlier on.

Rolando Castillo plays Scott as a complete jerk who is nasty to everyone around him, especially Cheryl. The trick is that Castillo delivers even the cruelest insults as comedy rather than venom, which makes Scott's eventual comeuppance all the more satisfying.

Danielle Simpson plays Cheryl, Ash's sister and the cabin's first victim of possession, who spends much of the evening taunting the survivors from the cellar with a stream of demonic puns. Her transformation from the bookish sister who would rather be reading into the raucous, conniving demon who turns Ash’s own hand against him is a joy to watch. A microphone failure on opening night swallowed much of her big number, "Look Who's Evil Now," but what came through made it clear she was singing it powerfully.

The company also includes Scott Pummill as Jake, William Mitchell as Fake Shemp, and Zachary Simpson as Moose, along with Christina Fugate and Macaela Thoelke as the Kandarian Dancers. Zachary Simpson pulls triple duty, also co-producing the show with Steven DeVore and conducting the band.

That band deserves its own paragraph. Under music director Trent Rash, Katelyn Rasmussen on piano, Jim Little on bass, Tommy Blackburn on drums and Thom Howard on guitar give the score a real rock edge from start to finish. "All the Men in My Life Keep Getting Killed by Kandarian Demons" is a highlight, and Lucia Freeman's choreography for "Do the Necronomicon" makes it one of the most entertaining numbers of the night.

The gore is the show's calling card, and CEC delivers it generously. The squibs are large, and the cast pops them and flings the results toward the Splatter Zone with obvious glee. Chris Mooney's sound design does its part, with effects nasty enough to make the skin crawl during the murders.

Izzy DeMers' set is a single cabin, with the remaining scenes played in front of the curtain, and the simplicity allows the absurdity and camp of this show to take center stage. The props on the cabin walls are rigged to move during "Join Us," and a bar adorned with alcohol becomes the setting for the show's most inventive gags, including Linda's afterlife as a severed head and the return of Ash's severed hand. In front of the curtain, a tiny bridge set piece, once destroyed, is simply turned on its side and wrapped in caution tape, stopping the cast from escaping from their impending doom, all the while leaving me cackling. The cellar is the set's one weak spot. Through its angled doors the audience can see actors moving behind the set, which undercuts some of Cheryl's entrances and exits.

Wendy Remus' costumes chart the damage. Ash and Cheryl in particular change visibly as the night wears them down, and by the curtain call nearly everyone is soaked; I can only imagine the laundry between performances. Makeup consultant Macaela Thoelke's demon makeup creates a striking contrast between the human and possessed versions of each character.

All that blood has practical costs. The intermission runs 20 minutes to allow for cleanup, and near the end of the second act a lengthy blackout covers the cast's cleanup before the final scene. The band keeps playing through it, but the show's momentum drops just as it should be building to its finale.

The other reservation is sound. On opening night, several performers' microphones were either unreliable or failed outright, and even with working mics the vocals were sometimes buried under the band, which made some lyrics hard to follow. Those are the kinds of problems that often improve after the first few performances, and the score is worth hearing clearly.

None of that keeps "Evil Dead The Musical" from being a very good time. This is a production that commits fully to its own absurdity, with a cast that clearly knows how much fun it is having, and a few standout performances worth the ticket on their own. Bring a friend, and if you are anywhere near the front, wear something you don't love.

Reader Reviews

To post a comment, you must register and login.

Kansas City News

Get the latest news, discounts & more