Evil Dead: The Musical

The Warner Theater, Torrington, CT

Last weekend my husband and I went to see a local theater production of Evil Dead: The Musical.  Let me say that my husband is not a fan of the horror genre in the least and I am squeamish about seeing anything violent so we have never seen any Evil Dead movies, but we are familiar with them enough to know that we won't be watching them. Let me also say that my husband is not a fan of musicals either. He didn't believe me when I told him we were going to see the movie Sweeney Todd and that it was a musical until 5 minutes into the movie when he looked at me in utter horror- too late.

Neither of those things stopped me from dragging my dear husband to the production of Evil Dead: The Musical. I told him it was the season of torture.

I can tell you that several times during the performance I looked over at him and saw him laughing-hard.  It is worth your time, my friends, to seek out a production near you.

Have you heard of this musical? It was written by a group of friends in Toronto and performed for the first time in a bar in 2003. The Off-Broadway production took place in 2006. It captures all of the humor and gore (there is a blood splatter zone in the front section of the theater) of the movies and sets it to some pretty funny songs. My husband keeps singing the refrain of What the Fuck Was That? to me.  Other titles include: Bit Part Demon, Look Who's Evil Now, Death is a Bitch, and Ode to an Accidental Stabbing. If you're curious, you can purchase the soundtrack from Amazon.

The plot of the musical involves five college students at a cabin in the woods for spring break. An evil force is accidentally released and all hell breaks loose. Need I say more? This musical mocks every bad decision you've ever seen in a horror film and it's funny. 

I think the producers of the show would like to see this musical become as popular at The Rocky Horror Picture Show and I think that might be possible. In the next few months there are productions taking place around the country. See a list of cities with links to tickets here. There is also an on-going production in Las Vegas- probably the best place to see it.