WISH-LIST WEDNESDAY: Evil Dead

Official artwork for "Evil Dead: The Musical"

We continue spooky season with a musical that, in spite of overwhelming critical acclaim, and truly global reach, with productions being staged everywhere from Japan to Sweden to Canada, has never made it to the UK. Hailed by the New York Times as "the next The Rocky Horror Show", and written by the joint efforts of Christopher Bond, Frank Cipolla, Melissa Morris and George Reinblatt, "Evil Dead: The Musical" adapts the first two entries in the Evil Dead horror film series, but reimagining them as a comedy musical. It was first staged in 2003 at the Tramzac Club in Toronto, and due to overwhelmingly positive reviews, later moving to New World Stages off-broadway in 2006.

The show tells the story of five college students who spend the weekend in an abandoned cabin in the woods, and end up inadvertently unleashing an evil terror onto the remote woodland; there is an original series of songs sung by characters and demons alike, in a distinctly comedic take on the original horror franchise. Creative license is taken regarding the plot, as the first and second acts only loosely follow the same direction as the first and second films in the series respectively.

Jenna Coker in the 2007 off-broadway production

It seems almost ludicrous that a piece of theatre with such a global outreach has yet to be staged in the UK, especially given the success of shows like The Addams Family, American Psycho and The Rocky Horror Show in this country throughout the years. I see no reason why this gruesome, grisly horror-comedy musical couldn't thrive if a bonkers enough director took a chance on it...