BWW Interviews: Fringe Spotlight: ZOMBIES FROM THE BEYOND

The Visceral Company is about to prove you can't keep a good zombie down when they bring ZOMBIES FROM THE BEYOND, a family-friendly musical comedy celebration of American ideals and foibles set in the Eisenhower era, to this year's Hollywood Fringe Festival. The musical debuted Off-Broadway in 1995 to unanimous acclaim and has had several regional productions but hasn't been produced in LA...until now.

It's also marks the first time Visceral, well-known for their horror, thriller, and sci-fi genre projects, is venturing into full-length musical territory. Director Dan Spurgeon talks about why the company chose this show as its first musical and what we can expect to see.

"We've wanted to do a musical for a while," says Dan, "but finding one that fits with our mission is somewhat difficult. We were looking for ANY horror/sci-fi musical that was good, not overdone, and had rights available, and we read this script simply because of the title. Then we listened to the score and fell in love with it. I have a soft spot and great affection for the 1950s sci-fi B-movies this parodies, and thought this one was done VERY well done, with great appeal for a wide variety of fans of theatre, opera, musicals, and cult movies of the mid-20th century."

What makes it perfect for the Fringe? "It's a fun, funny, fast-paced show with a very campy, off-kilter sensibility - as well as a quality musical with a fantastic score, performed by a cast with talent to spare. And there are huge wigs!

Our cast is mainly made up of actors who have appeared with us before, notably Amelia Gotham who won an LA Weekly award for her performance in our production of Turn of the Screw. We're absolutely thrilled with our new addition, Alison England, who has performed around the world in musicals, opera, film and TV, and is going to knock your socks off as Queen Zombina from Planet X! The cast also includes Frank Blocker, Lara Fisher, Daniel Jimenez, Eric Sand, and Alex Taber, with Robert Finucane and Karmann Hillman on keyboards, and Karoly Kiss on percussion."

Taking its cue from pulp movies popular at the time, ZOMBIES FROM THE BEYOND brings the 1950s nostalgically and hilariously to life with a tuneful, toe-tapping score.

Set in a fictional Milwaukee Space Center in 1955, it follows the budding romance of rocket scientist Trenton Corbett and Mary Malone, daughter of Space Center commander Major Malone. Their relationship is jeopardized when a flying saucer lands in town piloted by Zombina, a buxom alien aviatrix bent on procuring he-specimens to re-populate her planet. As she attempts to "zombify" all of Earth's men, it's up to a mild-mannered scientist, an all-American girl-next-door, a man-hungry secretary and one plucky, tap-dancing delivery boy to save the world from this planetary menace from outer space.

Musical Direction is by Garth Herberg and Robert Finucane, choreography by Anna Safar, set design by Angel Madrid and Jason Thomas, lighting design by Joshua Silva, costumes by Pam Noles, wigs and makeup by Dawn V. Dudley, stage manager is Rosie Santilena, and the musical is produced by Drew Blakeman and Frank Blocker.

ZOMBIES FROM THE BEYOND
May 30 - July 20, 2014
The Lex Theatre (mainstage)
6760 Lexington Ave in Hollywood
Tickets: $25 (previews, May 30-June 10)
$32 (regular performances)
Use code BEERTOWN and save $5 on preview tickets and $7 on other dates when purchasing tickets in advance via Brown Paper Tickets. Good for advance online purchases only. The producers reserve the right to withdraw or amend this offer at any time.
http://hff14.org/1512
www.thevisceralcompany.com

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