Evil Dead the Musical

Review by Mark Woodring

It’s no secret by now that I love all things Evil Dead. Every movie. The TV series (Ash vs Evil Dead. 3 seasons, gone too soon). Most likely I’ll adore the upcoming animated series Bruce Campbell talked about, as well.

But one of my absolute favorite things in the Evil Dead pantheon is Evil Dead the Musical. I can’t remember exactly how many times I caught the Sirc Michaels production at the Mile High Shops V Theater in Las Vegas back in the day, but it has to be a dozen or more. When Sirc brought the production north to FanX Salt Lake, I caught the after-hours performance with intro by Bruce Campbell.

Evil Dead the Musical (Image owned by https://evildeadthemusical.com)
Evil Dead the Musical

Heck, a few years back I even caught yet another production in Salt Lake City by a company I don’t recall the name of. It was… fine? I don’t recall having quit as much FUN at that one as in Vegas, but that’s to be expected, I suppose.

If you’re a fan of Evil Dead and you don’t mind live theater (and music; don’t forget the music), then there is a very real possibility that you will enjoy this show if you can find it in your area.

[NOTE: this website (https://evildeadthemusical.com/) will tell you everywhere that is currently putting the show on, or how to license it if you want to put on a production yourself.]

So when I was asked by fellow Utah Film Critic Rachel Wagner if I wanted to talk with her on the OnStage Blog Theater Podcast, since she was seeing a local production of the show on Halloween being put on by the Sanctuary Theater Company (Instagram), I said yes.

Then I realized that I should probably go and see this particular production, as I didn’t want to be speaking simply about my experiences with the larger, award-winning, Sirc Michaels show.

So Rachel messaged me early Saturday morning (or late Friday night… who can tell?) and I jumped on Sanctuary’s website to see when I might be able to squeeze in a show. Turns out, the only day I could make work was THAT VERY DAY. Bought the LAST TICKET and wound up sitting in what all productions of Evil Dead the Musical have: the Splatter/Splash/Gore Zone.

Front row.

Upon arriving, I was greeted by the very definition of tiny/small theater (in addition to the show’s director Joshua Garretson). 7 rows of seats (4 on the floor, 3 on constructed risers), with barely 6-7 feet of clearance between the front row and the constructed bit of set, as there is no “stage,” just floorspace.

“Tiny” will come into play in a moment, but let’s talk about the cast.

The Cast:

  • Hunter Williams: Ash
  • Gwen Anderson: Cheryl
  • Jason Sin: Scotty
  • Jillian Smith: Linda
  • Cress Liddell: Shelly
  • Ariel Tegan: Annie
  • Abrian Velarde: “Good old reliable” Jake
  • Jesus Dominguez: Ed

All of cast members acquitted themselves well, though some more than others. Gwen Anderson was really spectacular as Ash’s sister Sheryl. According to her bio, Gwen is 19, a University of Utah student, and this is her first show.

While I don’t consider myself a theater buff by any stretch of the imagination (or a musical fan, either, generally speaking), but if this is her first show, I’ll be interested to hear how she does moving forward. She was my favorite, swinging from scared Cheryl to possessed Cheryl with ease, machine gunning her insults and puns toward Ash with casual bitchiness and hardcore sarcasm aplenty.

Well done.

Hunter Williams’ Ash was good, as were the other ladies in the show. Perhaps the weakest performances were from Abrian Velarde and Jesus Dominguez as Jake and Ed, respectfully. Abrian’s vocals were weak, although this is, by his own admission (via his program bio), his first musical.

Jesus seemed ill-at-ease on stage. Uncertain, even. Moreso than one might expect from someone simply playing Ed’s inherent demeanor. This seemed more personal than performance based unease.

Still, both men pulled off their roles admirably.

So, while I enjoyed the overall production, I do have a few quibbles with it. The first being:

Yes, the size of the venue. I applaud the creative use of space, extending the set vertically for a couple bits, but a show like Evil Dead is manic in many ways, and so needs linear room for that to play itself out. The crew and director did a great job in keeping the show moving with various staging changes happening through use of small rooms/closets/bathroom connected to the show flow; another aspect of community theater is the tailoring of a show’s production to the venue it’s being staged in. Overall, though, this show maxxed out this venue’s potential before it began.

Secondly, the music. In a space this small, the cast doesn’t need microphones, but consequently, it’s far too easy for the sound system to plow over the singing. Just dial that down a tad, find that balance of music and voices (especially for those cast members with weaker voices) so the audience can fully appreciate the genius of the lyrics.

Finally, more than a few times the cast stumbled over the velocity-driven dialog. Evil Dead thrives on shooting dialog come at the audience at 60 miles and hour, but when the stumbles happen, it really drags the flow down quite a bit. There’s an old saying: “Speed comes from proficiency, not the other way around.” The cast needs to remember to deliver their lines as fast as “they can” and still be effective, not shoot for simply speeding through the words. As familiarity comes, the speed will increase, and the flow will be maintained.

I’m not even going to mention the blood, because there’s plenty of it (YES!), and they found inventive ways to deliver it to both the stage and the Splatter/Splash/Gore Zone. If you drive to see this or any production, make sure you’re prepared to protect your vehicle seats after the show.

So my overall verdict of this production is that, all things considered, I had a good time, despite any of the shortcomings I outlined above. And that’s what Evil Dead the Musical is supposed to do above all else: remind you of how much FUN the movies are.

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