[NEohioPAL] Berko review: 'EVIL DEAD TGHE MUSICAL' (BECK CENTER)

[Roy Berko]

‘EVIL DEAD
THE MUSICAL’ is a bloody hoot at Beck
 
Roy Berko
 
(Member,
American Theatre Critics Association)
 
--THE TIMES
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To really appreciate ‘EVIL DEAD THE MUSICAL,’ now in production at
Beck Center, you should probably be perverse, have a warped sense of humor,
enjoy getting squirted with blood and are willing to see body parts being
separated from the human body.  Yep, that’s what ‘EVIL DEAD’ is all about.
 
Plot?  Oh, come
on.  Hummable music?  Be serious.  This is about gore!  Oh, did I  mention, this is
one perverse musical?  And, did I
also state, “It is a hoot!”
 
‘EVIL DEAD’ is the kind of production, which is a cult
builder.  In fact, in its short run
here, there are people who already have come back to see every
performance.   There have
been, it is rumored, a couple of guys who drove down from Toronto, where the
show just closed, to continue their viewing pleasure.
 
People fight to sit in stage right seats A 9 & 10 so they can
get full streams of blood squirted on their “EVIL DEAD’ t-shirts (which are
available for sale in the lobby).   And those who don’t get enough of the red stuff, roll on the sopping wet
red covered floor after the performance to make sure that they are properly
blood soaked!
 
Created by the Canadian team of George Reinblatt, Christopher
Bond, Frank Cipolla and Melissa Morris, each of whom must be walking a
psychologically ill tightrope, the show had a weird path to success. After a
workshop in Toronto in 2004, an off-Broadway production ran over a year. Then
the show reopened in Toronto on May 1, 2007 and kept getting extended and
extended.  Now there are
productions all over the globe. 
 
If you are still reading this review…here’s what the whole thing
is about.  
Several college students spend the
weekend in an abandoned cabin in the woods, accidentally
unleashing an evil terror.  Characters and demons sing
and dance to such ditties as “Blew the Bitch Away,” “Bit Part Demon,” “What The
??? Was That?,” “All the Men in My Life Keep Getting Killed by Canadarian
Demons.”  If you are saying, “You
are making up those titles.”  Come
on, could I make up such sickness?
 
The Beck production, under the warped direction of Scott Spence,
is fun.  The creative choreography
by Martin Céspedes increases the hysteria.  Add Don McBide’s funky set, Larry Goopaster’s over the top
music, and Jenniver Sparano’s perverted costumes, and you have the full warped
package.
 
The very talented Dan Folino plays Ash, the handsome “hero” who
tries to insure us in his song, “I’m Not a Killer,” that he is a good guy.  Yeah, sure!  Folino is also responsible for the perverse special effects
(along with P. J. Toomey).  Yep,
the severed hand, the squirting blood, the singing moose that gets shot, the
female breast that gets severed, the head that somehow “accidentally” no longer
is connected to a body.  I could go
on, but all this has to be seen to be realized.
 
The rest of the cast waivers from good to okay, but the quality of
the acting and singing matters little, it’s the overall effect that is
important.  And the Beck production
is long on effect.
 
CAPSULE JUDGEMENT:   If you want to go to the theatre and have a great old time and escape
from reality, see ‘EVIL DEAD THE MUSICAL.”  Great that is, if you have a strong stomach, a good sense of
humor,  and aren’t the up-tight
type.  Oh, you might want to buy a
white t-shirt in the lobby before you go in so you can have a “bloody good”
souvenir.  And, don’t wear good
clothes as they might get very red!
            
Beck’s
production of ‘EVIL DEAD THE MUSICAL,’ continues through June 14. For ticket
information call 216-521-2540.  
 
 
 Roy Berko's blog, which contains theatre and dance reviews from 2001 through 2009, as well as his consulting and publications information, can be found at http://royberko.info

His reviews can also be found on www.coolcleveland.com and NeOHIOpal (to subscribe visit http://mailman.listserve.com/listmanager/listinfo/neohiopal.)