Stage

Evil Dead Serves Up Ghoulish Goulash

CNY Playhouse

(Review) Central New York Playhouse’s Evil Dead: The Musical

The Central New York Playhouse’s area premiere of Evil Dead: The Musical arrives with a number of firsts. For starters, it’s the first show to have its own designated “splatter zone,” with seats tightly lined up together near the stage. Fans of director Sam Raimi’s 1983 zombie horror movie, made for a pittance but earning millions, will know why they called ahead to reserve those seats. Ticket sales have already set a company record, but anyone wandering in out of curiosity will get the drift when a severed head doesn’t get cheated out of any dialogue. The original movie bristled with ironic dark humor, but when those lines are repeated on stage they sound like a spoof. Five Michigan State University students want to party in the boonies, without paying rent. One even bellows, “What could possibly happen if we break into an empty cabin in the woods?” There’s a Rocky Horror Picture Show quality to Evil Dead that makes the audience want to shout back, “Everything!”
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