Review: NEVERMORE: THE IMAGINARY LIFE AND MYSTERIOUS DEATH OF EDGAR ALLAN POE at Tower Groves Abbey

This Halloween season Stray Dog Theatre is doing it old school with Nevermore: The Imaginary Life and Mysterious Death of Edgar Allan Poe, a suspenseful, horrific, and chilling production written and composed by Jonathan Christenson and directed by Stray Dog’s Justin Been.

Told in song and verse, the show is filled with visual and verbal nods to the writer’s life and work. Nevermore: The Imaginary Life and Mysterious Death of Edgar Allan Poe combines the biographical with the allegorical, allowing audiences to experience the angst of Edgar’s life in rich detail.  

Filled with death, frustration, and heartbreak, Poe’s life was not easy.  Orphaned after the death of his mother and separated from his siblings Henry and Rosalie, both of which shaped his mental health in subsequent years, a young Edgar is taken in by a well-to-do couple, John and Frances Allan. While Frances becomes a second mother to him, his stepfather is ruthless, overbearing, and cruel.

As a teenager, Poe becomes smitten by Elmyira, a kindred spirit who shares his passions for the macabre. Deeply in love, Poe promises to write her as he leaves for college. He does so religiously, although her unapproving father never gives her any of his letters. As a result, she believes Edgar has abandoned her, causing her to marry someone else.

But the sadness doesn’t end there. At college Poe must claw and scrape to pay for his books and supplies. Yearning to be a writer, he is shunned by his step-father whose frugality and emotional cruelty haunt Poe for the rest of his life.

He gets a brief respite however after he meets Virginia, a distant cousin who serves as his muse. But once again, Poe’s good fortune runs out when she dies of tuberculosis.

Fending off his demons, Poe has his own battles, (alcohol, depression and anxiety) as well as a toxic relationship with an advantageous editor. There is some joy however, when he has a brief reunion with his siblings. But this happiness is short-lived as Henry succumbs to alcoholism and Rosalie becomes institutionalized.

From there, things spiral out of control as Poe’s financial instability, addiction, and isolation plague him for the duration of his life. Despite everything, Poe perseveres on. He eventually gets published in a literary magazines which leads to broader success as a poet and author. This success  leads him to becoming the recognized literary figure he is today.

Clad mostly in black by Costume Designer Sarah Gene Dowling, the seven-person ensemble works in unison to foster an atmosphere of gloom that propels the tension. here drab is fab, as Dowlings use of black and white colors helps establish the maudlin mood onstage. 

A riveting theater experience spread over two power acts, Been’s production features a mix of poignant ballads and darker, more dramatic numbers. These capture the essence of Poe's gothic style. The singing is extraordinary with Now Doubt, Now Pain, Discipline, A Dreadful Apparition, Life Is But A Dream, and Hush! Hush! And No More of the Madness highlighting the show.

The cast is superlative. Meshing charisma and pathos, Drew Mizell completely inhabits Poe in the starring role. A veteran of several Stray Dog productions, his outstanding performances as layered and complicated characters have become a regular occurrence.

His fellow castmates perform a variety of roles in the production including Stephen Henley who shines in several parts, especially as Henry, Edgar’s wayward brother. Challenged with playing a flawed sibling with mental illness and emotional issues, he gives a no-holds-barred showing filled with kinetic intensity.

Heather Fehl, Dawn Schmid, and Sara Rae Womack are also good. Narrating and singing multiple parts, they guide the audience through the lives of beleaguered and troubled women in Poe’s life. Womack’s scenes as Elmyra are amongst the production’s most emotional. Kevin O’Brien is ruthlessly wonderful as John Allan. Switching back and forth between Allan and several more pleasant-mannered roles, his versatility shines.

Brooding, well-acted, and choreographed with precision, Stray Dog’s potent production celebrates, the morose, melancholic, and mythical aspect of Poe’s persona. An artist haunted by darkness around every corner, his life was certainly not easy. As a result the tragedy and trauma come together to break tell-tale hearts of an emotionally numb audiences. This is poweful and moving theater.

Nevermore: The Imaginary Life and Mysterious Death of Edgar Allan Poe, plays at Tower Grove Abbey through November 2nd. For tickets and information visit:  https://www.straydogtheatre.org

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