Evil Dead Musical Tries Too Hard

Over the weekend, I took a trip to NYC to see a couple shows. One of them was the first show of my Roundabout subscription that I actually got to see: The Apple Tree. Look for my review here tomorrow.

I also caught Evil Dead: The Musical. Now, I'm a big fan of shows like Bat Boy, Reefer Madness, and Little Shop of Horrors, which I refer to in my Boston Conservatory course as "campy, Off-Broadway bloodbaths." Evil Dead takes the notion of a bloodbath quite literally: people in the first three rows of the orchestra receive ponchos to protect their clothing from the profuse amounts of stage blood. In fact, the most enjoyable part of the show was the penultimate number in Act 2, which I can only describe as a ballet of blood. It was a real hoot.

Unfortunately, that's just about the only time that the show was a genuine pleasure. The rest of the time, the humor was rather forced. The show and the cast seem to think they're a whole lot funnier than they actually are. Deliberate camp is extremely tough to pull off, and co-directors Christopher Bond and Hinton Battle (yes, that Hinton Battle, he of the three Tony awards), don't seem to have the requisite touch. Lots of mugging and scenery chewing, but only to moderate comic effect. There were, however, some genuinely funny moments scattered throughout the two acts, and I must concede that the fans of the movie who were present seemed to be having a better time than I was.

The score is atrocious. It reminded me of a bad musical episode of South Park: bad prosody (in other words, the lyrics don't always scan with the music), an over-reliance on assonance (in other words, the lyrics don't always rhyme), and puerile melodies (in other words...well...you get the idea). You might say, well, it's supposed to be bad. Sorry, I don't buy that. The great thing about Bat Boy, Reefer Madness, and Little Shop of Horrors is that they have quality scores, although Reefer isn't quite in the same class as the other two. You can tell that there's genuine theatrical knowhow behind the scenes. Of course I'll get the Evil Dead CD: I have a disease. But I can't imagine listening to it very often.  

So, a moderately amusing show, but certainly not high quality musical theater. The audience comprised mostly young straight men and their biker chicks. It's nice to see that there's another show in New York besides Spamalot that can attract that demographic. I just can't see it crossing over and bringing in the hardcore theater queens. Besides me, that is.