Daniel Williston (photo by David Hou)
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!
