Splatter this! Friday was opening night for the latest local incarnation of Evil Dead: The Musical and all you need to know about Alberta Theatre Projects’ most seasonally-specific musical is that there is carnage everywhere, including in the audience. Evil Dead: The Musical --with book and lyrics by George Reinblatt and music by Frank Cipolla, Christopher Bond, Melissa Morris and Reineblatt -- is a blood-splattering love letter to horror movies, particularly the ones that start with a group of attractive young people who decide to spend a weekend in a remote cottage in the woods, partying, and singing their feelings. As you might expect -- even the characters in the show expect it! -- it all gets derailed by demonic, murderous entities, only in the musical version, they also break into song from time to time. Evil Dead tells the story of Ash (Mark Sinongco), a Gen Z guy who works at a store called S Mart accompanied by fellow employee and girlfriend Linda (Kenni Chomyn), a pal named Scott (Caulin Moore), his ‘latest fling’ Shelley (Amanda Trapp) and his introverted sister Cheryl (Sierra Haynes) along for the weekend at a remote cottage they break into -- because then no one will really know where they are. Turns out the cottage belongs to an archeologist who has stashed an old vintage copy of The Book of the Dead, a literary portal of sorts to very bad things in a basement accessible through a very ominous-looking trap door in Anton Degroot’s cleverly-designed -- and scary--set. Beta male Ash, not exactly brimming with self-confidence of the sort exhibited by his fresh-from-the-manosphere pal Scott, quickly finds himself engulfed in a weekend of blood-soaked mayhem that leaves all the characters -- and audience members seated in the specially designated Splatter Zone -- drenched, as Ash is forced to tap into his inner zombie hunter with help from a chainsaw. Sinongco transforms himself over the course of a weekend in the woods, into a one-armed, one-chainsaw action hero and Friday night did a very heroic job! Things grow progressively more complicated when a neighbour, Jake (Kevin Corey) shows up, followed by the professor’s daughter Annie (Trapp again) and her sidekick Ed (Nikko Hinayo). Evil Dead started life in Toronto in 2003 performed during a blackout on the front lawn of an indie music club called The Tranzac, lit by flashlights and car headlights. That indie-rock spirit pervades the show onstage at ATP, which is all well-orchestrated by director Jennifer Brewin, who gives the talented cast plenty of room to stretch their musical muscles and hone their evil impulses. Hinayo, Trapp, Haynes, Corey, Currie and Chomyn all take funny solo turns as they transform themselves into the Evil Dead of ATP. For everyone who knows their Scream sequels from their Jason the 13th, Evil Dead: The Musical is the perfect way to ignite your Halloween spirit. Evil Dead: The Musical at Alberta Theatre Projects through Nov. 14. Recommended for age 16 and over. For more information, go here.
