About the Town | Evil Dead The Musical

Evil Dead The Musical: A Bloody Good Time

Murder can be merry and demons can be delightfully dreadful.  That’s verified by the Onyx Theatre’s January production of EDTM (playing weekends through January 28).

The intimate theater makes for an interactive experience for the entire audience.  That means you’re in a small space with a big cast that doesn’t mind getting messy.

Based on all three Evil Dead films (the last, Army of Darkness, is quoted a lot) it’s set in a cabin in the woods and the forest outside.  Five college students break in hoping to have a drinking and groping good time.  Well, four of them, anyway.

Lead happy camper is Ash (Ben Stobber) along with girlfriend Linda (Sarah Willick), friends Scott (Brian Roark) and the ditzy Shelley (Nicole Unger) and nerdy sister Cheryl (Lorie Palkow).

Demons soon come a-callin’ and a-possessin’ until the floor, the cellar and a tabletop hold evidence of the evil and the dead.  Hey, that’s the title, so I guess it all makes sense.

The show is long, over two hours of song and splatter, so there’s a fifteen minute intermission for folks to visit the concession stand or the bathroom before being cautioned to stay in their seats for everyone’s safety.  The cast of demons and “deadites” as they are called are free to roam and frequently do.  The blood flies often (and outward).

Incorporating strobe lights, fog machines, singing and dancing, and dead folk wearing ill-concealed backpack tanks that squirt fruit-flavored “blood” 3-5 feet into the audience, the players command the small space, stage and aisles both, so that those in the back can share in the carnage.  No one is safe.

Standouts performances by Ben Stobber, John Tomasello, Brian "Mickey" Roark, and Lorie Palkow are augmented by the talented Sarah Willick and versatile Nicole Unger in a double role – she’s also Annie, the comically overacting daughter of the long-deceased professor who owns the cabin.  Don’t worry; you’ll meet him, too.