An old cabin, creepy forest, and a group of teenagers who find a mysterious book written in an unknown language. Nowadays these are classic tropes known by any fan of horror movies. For promising film director Sam Raimi and his recently unemployed best friend Bruce Campbell in 1978, these concepts were the inspiration for their short film Within the Woods. Shown as a special presentation at their former high school, Wylie E. Groves High School, it would influence the creation of the Evil Dead film series, as well as a recent musical written by George Reinblat based on Raimi’s story.
The stage musical, closely based on the more comedic plot of Evil Dead II, centers around Ash and Linda, hard-working S-Mart store employees in love, his sister Cheryl, best friend Scott, and Shelly, a girl Scott recently met and decided to bring along on vacation to a cabin the group plans to stay at without permission. Unbeknownst to the group, the cabin’s owner had been translating a mysterious book bound in human skin, the Necronomicon, and audio recording the translation for future use. Upon finding the research, Ash plays the recorder, unleashing a fury of demons that murder and insult everybody they meet. Encompassing gore, horror, and hilarity, the Millennial Theatre Project Director Francine Parr chose to present Evil Dead, the Musical as their Halloween production this year at Akron Civic Theater.
“I had only actually seen the second movie before acquiring the rights,” explains Parr. “I knew it was a musical but I never looked into it. While we were doing Rent I remembered how fun I thought the movie was and watched the rest, and a bootleg of the musical on YouTube and decided it was a great fit for our Theatre Company.”
This is the seventh year for Millennial Theatre Project, formed by Parr to help bridge the gap between youth and adult community theater opportunities. Shows performed by the group, like Evil Dead, use very few backdrops, allowing audiences to focus more on the characters instead of everything around them, as well as reducing the need for multiple scene changes. Unlike their other shows, however, the horror show implemented fake blood spraying the audience during scenes of massacre. The show also used video elements which created a virtual setting for the woods when characters in a scene were divided between locations, along with actions that could not safely and physically be accomplished live on stage.
”I had been gifted a projector that we really utilized during a previous production… I thought it was a useful and amazing way to pull off some things that I couldn’t pull off without it. It also just added an extra fun element to the show.”
On opening night the two show stealers were River Onwudinjo as Ash and Xaverie Baker as Cheryl. Spending most of the show hidden beneath or peaking through a cellar door while possessed by a demon–or deadite– Baker not only continuously brandishes terrible pop culture references and puns as threats to the show’s living characters, but portrays Cheryl early on as clumsy and scared during song and dance numbers without breaking choreography. Meanwhile, Onwudinjo takes on the role of Ash as his own character, still keeping the classic Bruce Campbell attitude.
“When taking on such an iconic character, there’s this already pre-existing expectation of what someone envisions Ashley J. Williams to be. I didn’t want to come off as some guy trying to become this carbon copy of what people expect,” he explains. “During this process I really wanted to have that perfect blend of not just Ash, but also how I would genuinely react in a situation as messed up as our beloved characters get roped up inside this cabin.”
Despite having no background in physical comedy or stunt work, Onwudinjo takes the stage battling with plenty of somersaults, spins, and gags–particularly when Ash’s hand becomes possessed. This addition to the musical reminds audiences of the action comedy source material, while also immersing the audience in the story so much they may forget that it is happening live.
For those who do not enjoy being sprayed with fake blood, Evil Dead might not sound like an enjoyable experience, but that should not stop eager theatergoers. If the perfect middle seat past the front five rows becomes available, this show is the quintessential blend of horror, comedy, and musical that fans of either genre will enjoy.
Evil Dead the Musical runs Fridays and Saturdays at the Akron Civic Theater through October 29, with an additional special presentation Halloween night.
For more information on upcoming Millennial Theatre Project shows and auditions, visit https://www.facebook.com/millennialtheatreproject
