onstagepittsburgh.com: “I’m absolutely gobsmacked that this giant risk of a show has evolved into a bloody tradition here in Pittsburgh,” said director Nick Mitchell. “Each year the show is infused with fresh blood – pun Intended – and to be the director of such an amazing cast, crew and creative team, with the full support of PMT, is quite the privilege.”
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I had no idea the Evil Dead movie series had been made into a musical, let alone a musical that has been produced five times in Pittsburgh. Now that I think about it, it makes perfect sense and I love that this has been done! Horror movie fans like theatre too, why shouldn’t classic horror films be turned into stage shows? It might even be more broadly appealing as a musical when the horror-movie scariness isn’t quite as graphic. I wonder if it partially appeals to people for the same reason Little Shop of Horrors appeals to people: it makes what is creepy and might be a little terrifying into something funny. The article describes the show as “campy,” which, according to Google, means making something amusing by emphasizing the artifice of it. When you emphasize the fakeness about the blood and gore of the horror genre, you make it less frightening and in doing so make it funny, which probably substantially contributes to this musical’s popularity beyond horror movie lovers.
I don’t know Evil Dead the musical but I do know Pittsburgh Musical Theater and I also know Nick Mitchell so I was excited to see this article. It says that this show has campy gore and fake blood and “splatter zone” seats, which reminds me of my experience working with fake blood when I technical directed Carrie the musical. Fake blood can be a lot of effort, from laundry to washing up the stage after the show to making sure cast members don’t track fake blood on their shoes backstage to making sure that the type of fake blood used is compatible and safe with everyone’s skin, so I have a lot of respect for productions that use fake blood, especially when its a lot of fake blood. I also think that there are a lot of creative ways to get the effect of fake blood through other technical aspects rather than literally using fake blood, but for some shows where campy gore is what you’re going for, fake blood is the way rather than an artistic use of fabrics or light.
I can’t say I would’ve bet on finding out that there is an Evil Dead The Musical however I am happily surprised it exists. Even more so the fact that it’s apparently been produced five separate times now each time around halloween for the past five years. Honestly it makes sense though, it has that kind of cheesy, fake blood gory kind of horror that has the perfect plot line to be dramatized and turned into a musical. I find the fact that they even have a section of the house called “the splatter zone” absolutely hilarious. Even then, that's the exact kind of movie Evil Dead is and I’m happy to see that the producers and designers are staying true to the source content. Now that I’m actually living in Pittsburgh, I will absolutely make an effort to try and see it when it comes to life for the fifth year in a row.
““Five college students go to an abandoned cabin in the woods and accidentally unleash an evil force that turns them all into demons. It’s up to Ash and his trusty chainsaw to save the day.” This is an intriguing logline that definitely makes me want to learn more about the plot. I saw a show on the West End this past summer that had a very similar vibe, called 2:22: A Ghost Story. It was a horror play and was generally very entertaining! It reminds me of this because of the small cast size and nature of the location, being just set in one house for the entire show. On another note, the image in the article was really high quality and gave the reader a good insight into the visual vibe of the show. There's also a blood splatter section? Interesting idea. I would probably pass!
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