Zombie Joe's 'Masque of the Red Death': Joe on Poe

Zombie Joe's Underground Theatre comes to New York (from their native Los Angeles) to present theatrical adaptations of three Edgar Allen Poe pieces - The Tell-Tale Heart, The Bells, and their Award-Winning The Masque of the Red Death. According to the program, Zombie Joe's extreme theatrical aesthetic derives from that of Antonin Artaud, Bertolt Brecht, Fyodor Dosoevsky, Tom Waits and George Lucas. Utilizing stylized costumes and precision movement, they deliver their stories in impressive fashion, using all of Poe's text, with some extra interpolations of song.
First up is The Tell-Tale Heart. The story itself is a monologue, here delivered severally by a group of people all dressed identically, in black suits and ties, wearing white gloves with red palms, and all made up with pale faces and deeply shadowed eyes. At times they're nearly monotone, and at others they shout- sometimes alone, sometimes together. This first piece was intriguing, though sometimes seemed to merely be unusual for the sake of being unusual- the eccentric posturing and bizarrities at times overtake the story itself, the sense of the words becoming drowned in the viscerally fascinating visual style.
Next was The Bells, Poe's increasingly-depressing short poem. Here the words are set to music (by Christopher Reiner, whose score informs the entire production), and sung/spoken in rhythm by the cast.

Then intermission, during which wine was served and masks were handed out to any audience members who chose to wear them. We were entertained by the lovely violin music of Ann Marie Yoo. The second act, The Masque of the Red Death, began in the lobby, as we were invited in to the Duke Prospero's party. All the cast were made up with painted masks on their faces, and they acted out the increasingly sensual revels of the Duke, as his 1000 guests, the doors barred against the Red Death outside, go their careless and merry way to Midnight. The cast is all great, especially Billy Minogue as the decadent doomed Duke. This is the strongest and most interesting of the pieces, and has a real and wonderful sense of menace.

Edgar Allen Poe's "Masque of the Red Death" and "The Tell-Tale Heart" and "The Bells"
Performed by Zombie Joe's Underground Theatre
At St. Luke's Theatre, 308 West 46th Street

Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays at 8pm, Sundays at 7.

All seats are $56.50 (with discounts for groups/seniors/students)

available through TeleCharge at (212) 239-6200 or www.telecharge.com.

Photo Credit: Zombie Joe
(L-R) Denise L. Devine, Billy Minogue, Maria Olsen