Review: (Toronto) Evil Dead the Musical

Daniel Williston (photo by David Hou)

Deliciously Goofy Gore-soaked Fun
Toronto favourite still has its weak spots, but there’s no denying it’s a fun night out.
by Christian Baines

It seems pretty redundant to assess the strengths of Evil Dead’s writing as a musical now. The semi-original Canadian camp-fest has been touring with incredible success since 2003. If audience enthusiasm at the Randolph Theatre on Tuesday night is any indication, there’s still quite a bit to come. That’s not to give the show a free pass, but understand that at this stage of its life, Evil Dead is as much a raucous cult experience as it is a musical.

It belongs to that most difficult, yet persistent genre, the bloody B-grader – though if you’re going in expecting another Little Shop of Horrors, Bat Boy, or even Reefer Madness, it may be time to adjust your expectations. Evil Dead has a few well publicized tricks up its sleeve that these shows don’t, but its book and score don’t aim for anywhere near say, Bat Boy’s level of character development or sophisticated snark. The score doesn’t particularly grasp for originality and the lyrics contain as many forced moments as they do inspired ones. Henry Winkler? Yeah... even Ash (Ryan Ward) calls them out – in character – on that one.

But damn if the end result isn’t bloody good fun!

The Question... Alison Smyth on Evil Dead: The Musical

Madcapping It
One moment without focus could lead to serious injury.
by Estelle Rosen

Alison Smyth's performance as “Francine Valli and others” in Jersey Boys (Toronto/Dancap) won her the 2010 Best Featured Female Award for Broadwayworld.com Toronto.  Selected theatre credits include: “Shelley/Tracy Understudy” in Hairspray! (Toronto/Mirvish); “Diana” in Anne Of Green  Gables – The Musical (Charlottetown Festival); “Yves” in Head À Tete (Magnus Theatre).  Ms Smyth also made an appearance in the Hairspray film (New Line Cinema) as an “Auditionee”. An emerging theatre director, Ms Smyth has directed successful productions of “Anne Of Green  Gables – The Musical” (Toronto) and Aladdin (London, ONT). alisonsmyth.com

CHARPO: Does reprising a role five years later bring with it things learned from the earlier experience and as an emerging director, is it tempting to visualize directing this piece?

SMYTH: Yes! Reprising a role five years later brings with it many things learned from the previous experience - mainly: revisiting/rediscovering acting choices and faster/easier memorization of lines and blocking.

Cheryl is one of the most intense and challenging roles I've done thus far in my career.  Already having a solid character base gives me the opportunity to focus on the many new elements of this 2013 production.

Review: (Calgary) Evil Dead: The Musical

Bloody Hell!

by Joe Vermeulen

Evil Dead the Musical is back to swallow Calgary’s soul! A hilarious romp through the highlights of the “Evil Dead” movie franchises, Evil Dead the Musical (EDTM) documents the story of a group of friends who go to an old “Cabin in the Woods” for a Spring break vacation. Ash along with his girlfriend Linda and their friend Scott with his “Girl I picked up drunk at a bar three days ago” Shelly, and Ash’s sister Cheryl are expecting a week of drinking and sex, but instead unwittingly stir up a historic evil. The show does a good job of sending up the historic clichés of the genre; for example as soon as the group enters the cabin a ghostly voice cries out “Join Us”, which immediately makes Cheryl want to go home instead of investigate. Along the same lines the next time the ghostly voice calls out, Cheryl says what everyone is thinking: “Now mother always said that whenever you hear a dark threatening and ghostly voice coming from the dark woods there is only one thing you should do. Not wake the others and go investigate it alone”. While there are some serious scenes from the movies in the show, such as the chase through the forest, director Mike Griffin lets the atmosphere get just scary enough before immediately switching gears and letting the laughs flow. However, the number of “In one” scene changes started to feel a little tiresome after the fourth or fifth time they were used, and kept the pace of some scene transitions very slow. That being said, the show is awesomely campy and hilarious.