BWW Reviews: Stage Door Inc.'s EVIL DEAD: THE MUSICAL is a Bloody and Cheesy Affair

Stage Door Inc.'s EVIL DEAD: THE MUSICAL is silly, crazy and downright outrageous.

EVIL DEAD: THE MUSICAL (created by George Reinblatt, Frank Cipolla, Melissa Morris and Christopher Bond) is a camp filled parody of the 1980s Sam Raimi Evil Dead horror franchise. For those who haven't seen the films, fret not. The premise of the story is a familiar one in the genre of horror. Five blissfully unaware college students journey to a remote cabin in the woods to enjoy their spring break of teenage debauchery. Perfect idea, right? Of course their party is interrupted when they accidentally stumble upon an ancient book of the dead as well as the audiotape recording of demon summoning incantations. Evil forces and demons are unleashed, and one by one everyone starts turning into a zombie.

This all might sound scary, but in actuality EVIL DEAD is a large campy affair. After all, the musical borrows its story, characters and general demeanor from a B-film franchise. Intentionally cheesy and over-the-top funny, it relies heavily on self-referential humor and pop culture references.

Directors Marc Anthony Glover and Angela Case lead a fast-paced cast that go for broke in their efforts to pay tribute to the notorious fan favorite cult films. The actors' embrace of their typical stock horror film characters let this less than serious show shine in all of its over-the-top glory.

Tyler Sanders is competent and take charge as Ash the protagonist of the story. Between brilliantly executing cheesy one-liners and taking the time to indulge in some commendable duets, he wields the all-powerful chainsaw like nobody's business.

Carrie Doss brings a sweetened cherry pie persona to Ash's girlfriend, Linda. The two even share a sweet, goofy love duet called Housewares Employee where she delivers some sass. Doss' cherry pie persona isn't so sweet when she loses her head, but it's just as enjoyable.

Taelon Stonecipher takes charge of Ash's obnoxious best friend Scott. He complements his obnoxiousness by being a complete jerk...yet that jerkiness garners tons of laughs from the audience making him more loved than hated.

Daniel Edwards takes on the role of Scott's girl for the week, Shelly, with astounding dim-wittedness. As a guy playing the simpleminded hot chick Edward excels. With blank and perplexed looks, he shows off what's inside and he's perfected his strut in heels to show off the goods outside.

Shari Martino is the ultimate deliverer of bad puns as Ash's younger sister Cheryl. Martino beautifully transforms from high strung bookworm to hilariously foul mouthed demon.

Bryan Weber, as the backwoods Jake, has some fine comedic moments and he does justice to his song Good Old Reliable Jake.

Sarah Sneesby, as zombie-fighter Annie, is full of dramatic flair and carries it away with her little ditty All the Men in My Life Keep Getting Killed by Candarian Demons.

Mark Christian shines as the nerdy Ed, in his brief moment in the spotlight and garners the laughs during his stint as the demon spirit-filled mounted moose head.

Overall, the performance at Stage Door Inc. is enjoyable with just minor flaws. The musical numbers are done well with plenty of energy and enthusiasm. The slapstick humor is well delivered. Sometimes lines of dialogue and snippets of musical numbers are lost from the show's musical tracks yet sometimes these things were lost just from all of the audience laughter. In all honesty, none of it was bothersome because with all of the going-ons from the blood projection everywhere, slapstick humor, tacky special effects and self-deprecating jokes, it is totally acceptable to excuse some minor technicalities.

I've seen several Stage Door Inc. shows and this one isn't as polished as the others, but the quality isn't diminished because of this. With all of the cheese factor going on, it's in no way supposed to be polished. The beauty of this production is that it's a less than serious show (that revels in its own self-awareness) which is even funnier when nobody takes it seriously. It's as cheesy as a can of cheese wiz and while I'm am one who adores cheese but hates the canned stuff, I enjoyed myself.

Would be theatre-goers should be advised. These zombies not only come with killer appetites, but are tremendously foul-mouthed as well so this is not appropriate for children. You can't hide from the blood so make sure you're not wearing clothes that you love because they will get you. Last of all, just go prepared with the care-free attitude to enjoy a campy, cheesy and utterly funny spoof of horror.

EVIL DEAD: THE MUSICAL runs until November 2nd with shows starting at 8pm and mindnight. For tickets and more information on Stage Door Inc.'s production please visit http://www.stagedoorinc.com/#!current-show/c1jbj.

Photos courtesy of Stage Door Inc.

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