Re-animator – The Musical
|With the front three rows of the auditorium designated “the splatter zone” and disposable ponchos laid on the seats make it clear what the show will entail, and fortunately the audience are game, donning the unflattering garments in preparation for the hour and twenty minutes that follow.
Directed by Stuart Gordon, and perhaps following the script and visuals of his 1985 film version perhaps too closely, “so begins the tale of Herbert West, the very definition of obsessed…” Finding himself in the class of Doctor Carl Hill of the Miskatonic University, Herbert West finds himself immediately at odds with his tutor, accusing him of plagiarising the work of a former colleague whom West knew before his death.
A musical stands or falls on the strength of its songs, and here unfortunately is the weakest link: while all the cast can hit the notes, though none of the songs are musically demanding, only Rachel Avery’s Meg has a voice that could be described as pleasing, but the lyrics are functional rather than inspired and the music pedestrian, each number in uniform pedestrian style, accompanied by a sole keyboard player.
Fortunately, this is not a show that is about artistic finesse or breaking new boundaries in theatre, except perhaps in the copious use of fake blood and body parts. From opening scene, blood is sprayed liberally into the auditorium; in an autopsy, Doctor Hill removes a brain from the skull and asks the front row to pass it along. The famous “head in a tray” scene is splendidly recreated, though the biggest laugh of the night belongs to Rufus, a dancing dead cat with a broken spine, conclusion of the most dramatically created scene, the darkened basement chamber lit by a single swinging overhead light as the reanimated cat attacks Dan.
As West and Hill, the enthusiasm of Graham Skipper and Jesse Merlin is infectious, and though Chris McKenna’s Dan is the obligatory straight man against the jokes and blood, he holds his own among the increasing pile of corpses. The late night slot suits the mood, and what better way to finish of a hard days’ Fringing than with a trip to the morgue where the dead are rising?
Re-Animator The Musical continues until Monday 27th August
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