Forget about the Time Warp! And the Monster Mash’s no good!
You’ll have a much better trip rolling with these five to their CABIN IN THE WOOOOOOOODS!
Hi, I’m Amanda. And I work at S-Mart run a reviewing site that has all your theatrical ‘in-the-know’ needs (just like S-Mart only with fewer tires and frozen fish sticks.) I also can’t count (which is why I chose a profession in theatre.) Evil Dead: The Musical is now in its seventh year of production! (2016 at some theatre no one can remember, 2017 as an official Deer in the Spotlight Production housed in Rising Sun at Street Lamp Community Theatre space, 2018 where it split its time half in Rising Sun and half at Motor House in Baltimore, 2019, 2021, and 2022 at Motor House, and now finally at STAR Centre in 2023!) Did you get all that? Who gives a damn! All you really need to know is that this crazy new-cult classic, which has been around for long enough to feel like it’s earned said cult following, is BACK BABY!!! And more evil than ever! Bigger stage, larger splash zone, same great cast and crew turning high-camp-comedy into gory goodness for two great hours on stage! Who could ask for a better haunt this Halloween season?
Directed by Bob Denton with Musical Direction by Shane Jensen, and Choreography splashed together for that one big-ass dance number by Tigga Smaller, Parker Bailey Steven, and Lanoree Blake, this is your new Halloween Cult-Classic, attend every year, get all the merch, and be wild with it show.
Meet Your Crazy-Ass Team
Director— Bob Denton. He’s whacky, cray-cray, and totally lets all of that insanity lose on this stage. He’s also the Scenic Master, Technical Kingman, and all-around hydraulics guru. Seriously— the amount of things that spray blood in the audience is innumerable. (I feel like if you ask Bob he’ll say something like 13. But it feels like innumerable spray-cannons and from the least likely expected places/people.) I mean he’s got this stage tricked out with some seriously impressive moving pieces when it comes to Poltergeist-ing up the place. And he still employs some of those old-school, hokey-as-hell, but-totally-fits-the-mood-of-this-lampooning-sendup style ‘special effects.’ Watch all the various body parts that end up in places other than where they originated (attached to one’s body.)
Lighting/Runman– Tyler “Danger” Bristow. This dude has his own freaking fan-club. Like a special cheering section pops up whenever he does, which he does, on stage, a few times throughout the performance. The raging ennui and apathy that sprays like gut-splatter out of “Danger” is just what the audience ordered whenever he pops up on stage. Mostly to move props around. Like the footbridge. Or taking the footbridge out of commission, which has become this hysterical two-minute gag bit that the audience eats up. My personal favorite is at the end when it’s Demon-Slay-Palooza-Time and he just strides on through the stage, sucking on a lollypop, spies a downed demon (Tigga Smaller in this case), does a shrug, rubs his hands together, and literally hauls her ass off stage like “ooh, new job.” It’s hilarious. “Danger” also has some made skills for making cool stuff happen with the lights. Get tickets to the show to see what I’m talking about.
Musical Direction– Shane Jensen. Good sounds, great quality, blah, blah, blah. He’s amazing. Watch for his cameo (though you may have to pull a 180 in your seats to make it happen) during “All of the Men in my Life Keep Getting Killed by Kandarian Demons.” Seriously, Jensen’s been making this music perfect since 2017: Rising Sun Edition and he seriously knows his stuff. SERIOUSLY. He gets these ‘kids’ singing in solid harmonies together and keeps some of these performers…who have been with it since 2016…sounding ageless.
Choreographers— TEAM SSB. Tigga Smaller. Parker Bailey Steven. Lanoree Blake. BOOM. What more could you want. There’s a lot of chaotic running around, on a stage that gets slick pretty quick, so they make sure that all the movement happens safely. But their kick-ass routine comes late in the second act. “Do The Necronomicon” has all these wild zombie-stomp movies…and features rip-away pants! It’s epic. And you wait the whole show for it to land and land it does! You’ve got the audience stomping and clapping along as all the Deadites dance their— well— dance their insides out. Five-five, Team SSB!
Costumes— Lithia Knopp. Girl be slaying like she thinks she’s Ash from S-Mart. Only instead of blowing away Deadites, Knopp is blowing away the audience with her costumes and Deadite masks. Everyone looks perfectly ordinary right up until they don’t. And hands down she’s got the best headless moose costume I’ve ever seen. Period. I’ve never, ever seen another show wherein they use a headless moose costume for anything. And the living trees are pretty sick too.
Ceiling Candy— London St. Juniper. When you move into a big, shiny gymnasium. You get big, vaulted ceilings. Meaning you can have Ceiling Candy greet your audience as they come in. The insanely talented London St. Juniper is just ‘hanging out’ doing some hardcore aerial artwork both pre-show and during intermission. And they even deck her out in her very own Deadite mask!! It’s an excellent touch to add to the insane experience that is Evil Dead: The Musical and you won’t want to miss her wild work up on the rope/silks at this year’s show.
Stage Manager– Becky Flickinger. Almost forgot her. She’s so damn ninja you don’t even know! But shit gets done and the show rolls on, and it’s Becky Flickinger that’s doing a lot of that. BOOM.
All The Other A**holes
It’s the same nine nutballs from last year. WOO-HOO!!! We love consistency! And they just do it so damn well. In fact… it almost makes you wonder…is this one of those horror movies come to life? Like they don’t exist outside of this musical, which only pops up once a year? I mean seriously— when was the last time you saw Mike Bliss or Matthew Wolffe other than same time, last year in Evil Dead: The Musical. Clearly, Bob Denton is some sort of warlock and has them all trapped in a spooky box the other 50 weeks of the year up in some creepy attic somewhere. I mean, seriously— where is Parker Bailey Steven in all the non-October months?
Matt Wolffe and Tigga Smaller. Shemps. Fake Shemps. Moose. (Meese? Mooses? Headless Moose?) They do their thing and it’s great. It’s like playing “Easter Egg Hunt” when you try and count how many times these two pop up throughout the production.
Then there’s Matthew Peterson, playing the role of the Bit-Part Demon/Boyfriend Ed, who never—
And let’s not forget Good Old Reliable Jake! And all his rootin’ tootin’ yeehaw, vocal boopin’ shenanigans. Steve Flickinger. And the long silver ponytail is a hilarious added bonus! Vocally, he’s never sounded better, slippy-sliding through his eponymous number. And he’s got some hilarious facial expressions and body language to boot.
“I’m bleeding all over this reviewer!”
I mean, how many times can you say you’ve sat in an audience and had the privilege of being blood-bathed by Steve Flickinger? (Four times, personally. Flickinger took over the role of Jake in ’18 from Bob Denton who performed it in ’17 and has filled out the varmit-fussin’-feind ever since…but I seem to have missed seeing the spectacle in ’21…so I’ve only gotten the distinguished honor of being blood-peed on by Steve in ’18, ’19, ’22, and now this year. But I have SO. MANY. of his “good ol’ reliable Jake” business cards. They’re collectors items!) Flickinger is one of the funniest things about this show and you’ll kick yourself in the pants if you don’t see him do it this year.
Doubled up as slutty Shelly and sensible Annie, Mary Elizabeth Gipe is doing her thing and the audience loves it. You get to hear her belt her heart out/belt her face off during “All of the Men in my Life Keep Getting Killed by Kandarian Demons.” And you get to see her be the epitome of a brainless blonde, despite being a brunette, when she’s playing as Shelly. The gorgeously gormless look of “beautiful house, nobody home” on her face right up until she too becomes a Kandarian Demon (*SPOILER* Most everyone becomes a f**king Kandarian Demon) is spot-on for her characterization.
You’ve got Parker Bailey Steven whose faux-vomit reactions to all the raunchy shenanigans are absolutely hysterical. It’s like chewing on invisible scenery when she’s in the middle of her scenes as Linda and I’m here for it. Twerk-bouncing off the counter when she sings “Housewares Employee” and the whole bit with her head is exceptionally well executed. Steven is like Mike Bliss, Rance Denton, and Matt Wolffe…perhaps dead/ghost/poltergeist, as we only see her once a year at Evil Dead. So you definitely don’t want to miss her in this role.
Bad puns, full of motion, and unstoppably filthy and hilarious, Lanoree Blake is the quintessential Cheryl. Nerdy, dorky, and totally living up to the stereotype of Ash’s little sister before she becomes demonic, Blake has this role, and her dual role of “Evil Cheryl” well in hand. The way she pops up and down in and out of that basement hidey-hole is hysterical and you won’t be able to get enough of her growling, groan-worthy puns! She’s just so damn animated too! Flinging herself around all over the opening of that hole!
What the f**ck was that? OG-Ash and OG-Scotty. That’s what. And who. Mike Bliss and Rance Denton. Hamming it up, playing up the campy, over-the-top nature of this show tenfold, and really owning the nonsense that these two characters bring to the stage. Their tango during “What The F**ck Was That?” gets a little more saucy every year, gets a little deeper into that Bromance and boy oh boy do the two of them have some fun together. When Denton comes rolling back on stage after his accidental…semi-demise, you have a blast (in your face if you’re in the right section of the house) with all of his gut-busting antics. And you’ll never be able to un-see his breakaway pants and pelvis-popping antics during “Do The Necronomicon.” Bliss, and I’ve said this before, and I’ll say it until someone proves me wrong, has a little portrait of himself moldering away under the stage somewhere. It’s like bathing himself nightly in blood for two weeks every year keeps him looking younger and younger. It’s freaky as hell but I’m here for it. And he must be drinking some of that blood too because his voice sounds perfectly the same as it did in ’16. Belting out “die— dieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!” in that pushing-boundaries top-tenor sound is delicious and delightful. And damn if he still isn’t in peak physical performance mode, doing backflip-leap-to-stand-somersaults and throwing himself all over that stage when he’s having a fight with his own hand. They’re all in great crazy physical-comedy shape— Lanoree Blake does a full stage drop to the floor and so does Rance Denton, multiple times. And it’s epic and it plays into the comedy of the show.
Wolffe, Smaller, Peterson, Gipe, Flickinger, Blake, Steven, Denton, Bliss. How do we format that into one of those trendy Broadway-style shirts? Maybe they can figure out how to do that for some seriously wicked Evil Dead merch for their tenth anniversary show…which is in *THREE* years (2026), sorry, Mike, you’ve got *THREE* more years to go, not two!
It’s a high-octane, hilarious, good-time-to-be-had series of insanity. It’ll please fans of Evil Dead. It’ll please fans of bad-pun humor. It’ll please musical theatre fans. It’s got something for everyone— even if you’re a Kandarian Demon! So what are you waiting for? JOIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIN THEM!!!
Running Time: Approximately 2 hours and 30 minutes with one intermission
Evil Dead: The Musical plays Friday & Saturday nights through October 28th 2023 as a Deer In The Spotlight Production now appearing at The STAR Centre in downtown historic Havre de Grace— 700 Congress Avenue, Havre de Grace, MD. Tickets are available at the door or in advance online.
Matthew Peterson is an excellent performer. Even my tongue-n-cheek smartass couldn’t leave him completely out…even if his poor character gets shut-down and shut off. You really get to hear him shine during “Bit Part Demon” and his comic timing for all those ‘cut-off’ moments is hilarious. And if you’re lucky to be in house left, closer to the far side of the house, you’ll get to see him swinging his feet along to that bit about how he died when Annie is singing her song and it’s hysterical.
WORD OF CAUTION: Because of the big, beautiful space they’re in this year, DitS’ has stuck a tongue-thrust, fuax-grass-covered runway down the center of the house from the apron of the stage. WHICH MEANS- the “splash zone” even though its designated as the first four rows on either side….really extends somewhat into rows five, six, and maybe seven? I was seated in the very last row on the left of the ‘official splash zone’, on the aisle beside the runway thrust, and people two rows behind me got decently spritzed. I, ended up looking like Carrie at The Prom. If you don’t wish to look like Carrie at The Prom, (seriously why are you even at this show?) but maybe get a seat at the very, very back of the audience. Or all the way at the back of the gymnasium by the tech booth.
