This is not a joke at all; Re-Animator is being staged as a musical and there’s some serious talent involved:

In 1985, Stuart Gordon directed his first feature film and created a sensation. It was “Re-Animator,” a smashing popular success based on a horror story by H.P. Lovecraft. The film delivered as many laughs as it did screams making it a cult classic among horror fans and winning a Critic’s Prize at the Cannes Film Festival. Now, Gordon is back with his co-writers Dennis Paoli and William J. Norris and composer/lyricist Mark Nutter to turn “Re-Animator” into a musical for the stage.

…

The cast stars Harry Murphy, best known as the affable Norm from “Cheers” but now playing the Dean of the Medical School who West transforms into a mindless zombie. Chris L. McKenna, the star of Gordon’s neo-noir thriller “King of the Ants” is Dan Cain, Herbert’s hapless roommate who finds himself drawn into the mayhem. And operatic Jesse Merlin, who played the President of the United States in the long running “The Beastly Bombing” is Dr. Carl Hill who loses his head for Meg, the dean’s beautiful daughter (Rachel Avery) only to actually lose it at the hands of Herbert West. But thanks to the glowing re-agent, Dr. Hill is still able to take his curtain call with his head tucked underneath his arm. Rounding out the cast (in alphabetical order) are Mark Beltzman, Cynthia Carle, Brian Gillespie, and Liesel Hanson, and introducing Graham Skipper as Herbert West.

Special effects are being done by the same guys who did them for the 1985 movie: Tony Doublin, John Naulin and John Beuchler. And the blood will flow so freely that the first row will be designated as a “splash zone.” Laura Fine Hawkes, who last designed “The Lieutenant of Inishmore” at the Taper, will provide the creepy sets, Joe Kucharski the moldering costumes and Jeff Ravitz the cadaverous lighting. Stage managing the madness is the unflappable Joe Begos.

Needless to say, the show is not for small children.

The line about Harry Murphy playing Norm from Cheers, still on the play’s site and the press photos which clearly showed George Wendt in the production anyway, threw us for a loop, but ZRC Cultural Historian Andrew Leal cleared it up for us; Murphy replaced Wendt and the site’s updated press release is… somewhat less than clear. (to be charitable)

At any rate, the original Re-Animator, which we haven’t formally reviewed at the ZRC, is pretty Unfriendly to Zombies, not to mention somewhat exploitative of the Undead. The rather extreme emphasis this stage production puts on gore (as evidenced by the ‘splash zone’) doesn’t make us any more hopeful about the live version. It sounds like the Undead are mistreated by a mad scientist for black comedy laughs.

And we can’t really get behind that.

Dread Central outlines just how messy this show is, and how the plight of the Differently Animated is largely played for humor:

Likewise, all the same grotesque gags unfold right in front of you courtesy of John Carl Buechler’s make-up effects. The first two rows were designated “splash zones”, and the usher handed out plastic garbage bags – but by the time the show ended, it’s fair to say that nearly half the auditorium got hit with splatter. Not since my last GWAR show have I been hit with this much red stuff! Given the limited space and single backdrop, the chaos Gordon unleashes on stage is nothing short of staggering, and everyone involved looks like they’re having the time of their lives. There are even little flourishes and moments that surpass the source material in terms of wild inventiveness.

You can understand why, after reading that, the ZRC is very skeptical that this could be a Zombie Friendly production. On the other hand, Zombies get singing roles, it seems; that’s something.

If it comes to the Midwest, the ZRC would get a couple of tickets. We need to see and review more Zombie Theatre.

Tags: Zombie Theatre

This entry was posted by John Sears on Monday, April 18th, 2011 at 11:11 pm and is filed under Zombie Media. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.