Based on the cult classic horror films, "Evil Dead," "Evil Dead II" and "Army of Darkness," the Strother Theatre production of "Evil Dead the Musical" tells the story of five college students who plan to spend their spring break in an abandoned cabin in the woods, but instead unleash evil demons that attack the students.
FROM MOVIE TO MUSICAL
The musical production calls for all the gory essentials from the films but demands a comedic edge. Director and choreographer Michael Worcel said comedic acting can be difficult and often requires an immense amount of skill on the actor's part to master.
"What makes something funny is that it occurs spontaneously. If you know the punch line, it loses its humor," Worcel said. "It takes a lot of practice to find the pratfalls without forcing for laughs."
One such actor who was forced to find her inner-funny for one of the characters she plays is sophomore musical theatre major Mary Kate Young. Young is the understudy for Annie, the daughter of the original cabin owners. Annie is played by senior musical theatre major Megan Farley.
Young also performs as the voice of the beaver.
"Since I had to be so many different characters, everything had to sound very specific and unlike my voice," Young said. "For the beaver, I have to do this really funny noise. Everyone laughs when I do it, so I always feel like I'm doing something right."
Young is also in many of the performance's dance sequences. Worcel said that every musical number is a "spoof within itself, and the choreography reflects this as well."
Worcel said in "Do the Necronomicon," there are lyrics that call for such dances as "the sprinkler," "the robot," parts of "Thriller" and a mention of Fonzie's famous "Heyyy." He also said other numbers reflect breakdance moves and even 70's disco.
GETTING INTO CHARACTER
The five main characters in the musical are Ash, the iconic character from the three films; Linda, Ash's girlfriend; Cheryl, Ash's sister; Scotty, Ash's roommate; and Shelly, Scotty's girlfriend.
Although the five main characters are college students, immersing oneself into the life of another is not always an easy task.
Junior musical theatre major Liz Bancroft plays the role of Shelly, a ditzy, dumb blonde who is picked up by Scott in a bar and accompanies the group to the cabin.
Bancroft described Shelly as, "an idiot without realizing it," and said she likes playing around with that type of character.
"I love the fact that I get to be a total ditz," Bancroft said. "I get to say these really stupid things like, ‘Oh my god, trees!' I also just say whatever is on her mind and talk to inanimate objects ... Playing Shelly is really just a big party."
Bancroft's real-life roommate, junior musical theatre major Anthony Sullivan, plays Scott. Sullivan described Scott's character as "macho" and "like a Jersey Shore frat-boy," traits that Sullivan had to develop on his own. Sullivan said that he does not consider himself to be "macho," so doing different exercises outside of rehearsal was necessary to discover Scott's character.
Sullivan mentioned that an important part of getting into character is observing others, especially to see how different people walk.
"How your character walks is very important," Sullivan said. "I noticed when watching how certain guys walk around campus that they don't walk in an arrogant way, which is how I thought Scott would walk. They just carry themselves differently. [Theatre majors] are trained to figure out different types of walking as part of character development."
BLOOD AND GUTS
It would be nearly impossible to recreate a musical from two cult-classic films without blood and guts involved. Worcel said the cast had a chance to rehearse with both masks and fake blood.
"We had a protocol made of the masks that will be worn in the production so that actors got accustomed to working with the prosthetics," Worcel said. "The actual masks will be used in dress rehearsals. As for the blood effects, we actually have a ‘blood call' scheduled as part of our technical rehearsals to see how the blood will read to the audience and how it will affect other elements on the stage."
Along with massive amounts of fake blood, the show is very weapon-heavy with props. Senior theatre design and technology major Kayleigh Lower-Mckinney is the show's prop master and designer. She said that the musical's most essential props are the weapons, including a chain saw, a double-barrel shotgun, an axe and an ancient dagger.
"Evil Dead the Musical" will run Oct. 27-29, Oct. 31 and Nov. 2-5 at Strother Theatre.
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