I Hate Musicals but I Loved Evil Dead: The Musical!

If you are in NYC any time soon, you HAVE to make time to see this play! It's not any option.... seriously.

If you've seen Evil Dead: 2 (and even if you haven't) this play/musical is hilarious, campy and Ryan Ward as Bruce Campbell's Ash is OUTSTANDING! There was no weak link with the other actors either. Even a bit part Deadite got his own song. There was eye candy on stage for everyone. It's a really strong show.

The stand out song for me was "What the F@ck Was That?". It's right near the beginning before they realized that there was something "just not right" with their isolated cabin in the woods. Redneck Jake had an awesome song as well. I know when I think of singing and theater I think of Mary Poppins but the songs aren't like that. The cast was a riot and the audience was fully engaged. With singing comes dancing and these guys are phenomenal. Just think of a stage full of Deadites dancing. The dance routines became stellar when they threw in some dance moves from Michael Jackson's Thriller.

They also did wonderful things like reference Army of Darkness and even came on stage with one of Bruce Campbell's books. Of course, we got all of the great Ash one- liners. They threw some in from all of the Dead movies and the audience cheered every time and sometimes even quoted them along with Ward.

The set was simple but effective. The pictures on the wall moved and twirled. There was a talking moose head. Ash's severed hand was an awesome flying prop at times. The chainsaw was the best. With chainsaws and moving props comes BLOOD. The funniest part of the show was the Splatter Zone. The chairs of the three front rows were covered with plastic and the patrons were given plastic bags to cover themselves. Boy did they need it. The actors weren't shy or conservative with the blood either. It was a blood bath. The people on the left side got it more.

Evil Dead: The Musical is showing at The New World Stages Theatre. It looks like a hole in the wall when you first approach it but it's underground and really cool and sci-fi looking on the inside. They are serving an Evil Dead drink which is cranberry juice and black vodka. It was so yummy I had two! There are souvenirs and of course I got a t-shirt and a hat! The biggest disappointment was there was on DVD or CDs of the show to buy. There should be a DVD of this play and a CD with the soundtrack. I would have bought them right then and there. Hopefully when the show ends they will do something like that.

This show is more than worth the ticket price of about $22- $63. I'm not sure if the shows stop in January but you can't buy tickets after 01/21/06. So if you have family to visit in NYC this holiday season DEMAND that they take you to see this!