‘Evil Dead’ comes alive

Washing blood out of your clothes is not part of a traditional night out at the theater, but "Evil Dead the Musical" is anything but traditional.

Director James Norman, a part-time English professor at the University of Toledo, is premiering the production at 7 p.m. tomorrow night at The Valentine's Studio A Theatre in downtown Toledo. Norman has directed for several Toledo area high schools, sang with the Toledo Opera for 20 years, and has directed productions such as "The Full Monty" and "Victor Victoria."

"Evil Dead the Musical" is the first musical based on a series of movies, adapted by George Reinblatt from the cult horror classics that began with Sam Raimi's "Evil Dead" in 1981.

The plot centers around five college students who spend a weekend in an abandoned cabin and accidentally unleash demons. The show is not just for fans of the movies: Norman put the production together without ever watching the films.

"I don't know a lot of it because I have not watched but about 30 minutes of the second one," Norman said. "What I hear from my experts is that this plot is based more on the first movie but with the campiness of the third movie. The second movie isn't really in this much at all. Obviously fans of the movies get it more, but it's a piece that's ridiculous in its campiness and it works."

One of Norman's experts is Ryan Zarecki, who plays the lead role of Ash. Zarecki has acted in productions ranging from "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown" to "Bloody Bess" to "High School Musical."

"I've run the gamut from god-awful to having a hell of a good time," Zarecki said.

"Ryan is a dream because he is my expert on Evil Dead," Norman said. "He's seen them all, quotes it all and knows it all right down to what should be worn. He's helped with a lot of the effects and things. He's been a godsend for us."

"I'm a big fan of Sam Raimi," Zarecki said. "I love ‘Evil Dead.' I've probably watched the second one a lot more than the third one. We obviously don't cover ‘Army of Darkness.' Nobody has that budget. We try to stay as truthful to the gore and the effects and the campy double-takes as much as we can."

The campiness and gore have achieved success so far in other productions. The musical began in 2003 in a small bar in Toronto. It has since spread around the world with productions everywhere from New York to Tokyo.

"This is really not my genre at all, but as a director I wanted to stretch my limits a little bit," Norman said. "It's been a lot of fun. I'm used to a little bit bigger musical with a larger cast and bigger flash and trash type stuff."

"Given the vein of the film as the camp horror fest that it is, sort of a horror comedy in the way it's delivered, if there was a way to put it on the stage, a musical would be the best way to go about it," Zarecki said.

Zarecki is also used to more traditional theater but was excited for the opportunity to do something different.

"Usually it's the mom and pop, blue hair musical theaters where it's ‘Fiddler on the Roof' or ‘My Fair Lady,' just all the classics," Zarecki said. "The minute I heard this was even a remote possibility in this town, I jumped at it. How often do you get to sport a chainsaw hand and spurt blood on the audience? That day has come."

The gore has forced the actors to learn a completely new dimension of performing. Every time a gun is fired or a limb severed, the affected actor uses a syringe or other device to shoot blood into the first two rows, which are referred to as the "Splatter Zone."

"In this house, because we're so small, it's difficult to just get the first two rows," Norman said. "Last night we hit the fifth row, so we're really working on only hitting the first two. Actors are looking to make sure they are not hitting anything else. We're taking that campiness to a new high."

"Between the shotgun, the chainsaw, the blood effects, the demon cabin, for an hour and a half show it is very tech heavy," Zarecki said. "I think that's the hardest challenge people have putting this show up outside of finding the right cast. Thankfully that was the easy part for us. Now we just have to get the tech right."

The tech involved presents unique challenges, like the director having to do laundry between performances.

"Those have been a big challenge, especially with us having two shows on Saturday nights," Norman said. "Having one set of costumes and laundering at intermission is a big thing. Obviously the blood is washable, so we don't have to go through 10 sets of costumes. That's been a big challenge. It's so heavy on tech."

The musical is also heavy on themes of graphic violence and sexuality, so viewer discretion is advised.

"We've said 16 and older," Norman said. "It's definitely TV-14. The F-bomb is in there and a lot of sexual situations. I would say 16 and older if they're mature, can handle it. My son or daughter would not be coming if they were younger."

The musical features graphic songs such as "What the F--- Was That?" and "Blew That Bitch Away" along with "Do the Necronomicon" which pays homage to "Time Warp" from "The Rocky Horror Picture Show."

"The language in this is a little bit stronger than Rocky Horror, so high schools aren't going to be able to adapt this. With a song like ‘What the F--- Was That?' you can't really change that. It think this will be a little bit tougher, but I think it's building a cult following."

The campiness of the production is the biggest reason for the cult following, combining comedy and horror like the movie and other classics such as "Shaun of the Dead."

"It's pretty easy [blending comedy and horror] because anybody who does comedy well will tell you that you have to take it very seriously," Norman said. "If you screw around with it, people won't laugh. If you take it seriously, which you have to do with horror, people will laugh. We're playing it pretty straight. It's the piece that makes the laughs."