For some reason every time I used to drive by the Actor’s Theatre of Charlotte I pictured it to be like a playhouse, with school play caliber shows starring little kids … but that was about as accurate as me also thinking the Aquatic Center down the road from it was an Aquarium. (I am just going to say that I was being more attentive to driving rather than what I was driving by … that’s my story and I’m sticking to it).
Well, I actually went into the Actor’s Theatre to see the frightfully funny and horrifically humorous Evil Dead: The Musical. That’s right, I said a horror–comedy-musical … that genre blend in itself is worth seeing. At points in the play you’ll wonder why you’re laughing at a woman singing about the fact that all the men in her life keep getting killed by Candarian demons, but the comedy comes in as they make fun of the cheese factor in horror flicks. Such as the romance clichés and “bit part demons.”
And the musical was classic with lyrics like, “I’m the man, I bitch slap evil with my one good hand” and “What the Fuck was That?”
Aside from the all-star Charlotte cast that makes you question what they’re doing in Charlotte, one of the best things about the play was the special effects — there was blood spurting out, talking decapitated heads, chainsaws cutting people up, and walking chopped off hands. And said Special FX make-up came compliments of Melissa Brown and Martin Berry.
But Evil Dead is only alive thru June 27, so be sure to go see it this weekend — it’s on Stonewall right up from the “Aquarium”
And to further dispel my assumption that the Actor’s Theatre is a playhouse, the upcoming schedule is as follows (and they serve alcohol there) …
July 29 – Aug. 15: Grits the musical (Based on the book Girls Raised in the South)
Aug. 28–29: Sketch Fest (which I am actually going to contribute writing on)
Season 21 (2009 – 2010) at the Actor’s Theatre Charlotte (according to the brochures) promises to be “Daring … Different.. Distinct” and “Bold … Provocative… New” — now that’s a lot of adjectives. But the line-up does sound like some of those descriptive words …
Big Boys by Rich Orloff, Yankee Tavern by Steven Dietz, Black Pearl Sings by Frank Higgens, End Days by Deborah Zoe Laufer, Five Course Love by Greg Vffin, and the Santaland Diaries by David Sedaris.
(photo courtesy Actor's Theatre)
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