Evil Dead: The Musical

Most groovy was ACMA Senior Katie McLoughlin’s production of Evil Dead: The Musical at the quirky Funhouse Lounge in Southeast Portland this week. Upon walking in, it was evident that people were eager to experience McLoughlin’s creative component for her senior Capstone project. The first two rows of seats, the blood “splash zone," were filled with brave people like ACMA math teacher Brian Bertram, while the comfy booths lining the perimeter of the lounge and the rows of chairs in the middle were packed. All of whose occupants, teeming with excitement, filled the cozy bar.

The musical is based off of the cult classic series of Evil Dead movies that came out from 1981-1992. The movies star Ashley “Ash” J. Williams, a proud S-Mart employee, who decides to go on a Spring Break trip with his friends to a mysterious cabin in the woods. The musical is a dark comedy (emphasis on the comedy part). McLoughlin, the producer, director and choreographer explained, “It’s a slight parody of the movies in a sense that it makes fun of a lot of things that are in the movies that are inconsistent and just over the top. But it also is sort of a tribute to the movies; it keeps a lot of the moments that everyone loves, that make our heroes so very, very cool. It keeps those, and sort of captures the spirit in musical form.”

Speaking of capturing the spirit, the collection of pun-y demons, swear words, ridiculous dance numbers, and pure satire kept the director smiling all night. The quality of the show was incredibly professional, which is quite remarkable considering that these students accomplished this almost entirely by themselves. When asked for one reason why everyone should see Evil Dead, McLoughlin said, “One reason? Because it’s frickin’ hilarious! But probably to support what a strong group of people we have here at ACMA and in the Portland community. That we are students that have the experience, and we have the drive to do this ourselves. And I don’t think that there’s a lot of places in the country where students would want to do this-well, not just want, but would be able to do this.”

In case you're not fully convinced to see Evil Dead yet, McLoughlin lets us in on some of the coolest aspects of the show. “Well, we have lots of fake blood that sprays everywhere. We have a splash zone, so if that is something you would be excited about - getting covered in fake blood from characters onstage - be my guest. Come see the show. We’ve got lots of funny little songs. We’ve got one called “Ode to An Accidental Stabbing”, we’ve got a song called, “All the Men in My Life Keep Getting Killed by Candarian Demons”, and we’ve got a song called, “What the F*** Was That?” Yeah. There’s some pretty exciting numbers.”

This production of Evil Dead has definitely prepared these students for bigger and better things after high school, and just generally made people happy. Whether you’re someone who is easily spooked or someone who loves horror movies, this musical is a fun, easy-to-warm-up-to production that all will enjoy. Make sure to go check it out at at the PostFive Theater (tickets can be found here) on February 3rd and 4th. Tonight’s final show at the Funhouse Lounge location sold out this morning.

#evildead #musical #theatre