A hilarious new musical comedy based on the classic horror film (and featuring a bloody splash zone in the first few rows), the show plays at the PTC Performance Space, located at 555 West 42nd Street. Tickets for Re-Animator The Musical are $25, a can be purchased by calling (212) 352-3101 or by visiting www.nymf.org. For more information:www.nymf.org and www.reanimatorthemusical.com.
In 1985, Stuart Gordon directed his first feature film and created a sensation with H.P. Lovecrafts Re-Animator. Produced by Brian Yuzna, the cult classic delivered as many laughs as it did screams, making it a cult classic among genre fans and winning a Critics Prize at the Cannes Film Festival. Last year, Gordon, co-writers Dennis Paoli and William J. Norris, and composer/lyricist Mark Nutter adapted Re-Animator into a musical for the stage, playing to rave reviews for a sold-out six month run in Los Angeles – and winning six LA Weekly Awards, including Musical of the Year.
Re-Animator The Musical tells the story of Herbert West, a brilliant young medical student who has created a glowing green serum that can bring the dead back to life. What should be a medical breakthrough results in hideous monstrosities and ghastly consequences. I guess he just wasnt fresh enough, is Wests constant refrain as his quest for fresh subjects results in the murders of half the faculty of the medical school.
The original Los Angeles cast reteams for the NYMF production. George Wendt, best-known as the affable Norm from Cheers, plays the Dean of the Medical School who West transforms into a mindless zombie. Chris L. McKenna, the star of Gordons neo-noir thriller King of the Ants, is Dan Cain, Herberts hapless roommate who finds himself drawn into the mayhem. And operatic Jesse Merlin, who played the President of the United States in the long running The Beastly Bombing, is Dr. Carl Hill who loses his head for Meg, the deans beautiful daughter (Rachel Avery,) only to actually lose it at the hands of Herbert West. But thanks to the glowing re-agent, Dr. Hill is still able to take his curtain call with his head tucked underneath his arm. Completing the cast are Mark Beltzman, Cynthia Carle, Brian Gillespie, Marlon Grace and Liesel Hanson, Tyler Milliron, and featuring Graham Skipper as Herbert West.
Winning the LA Drama Critics Circle Award for their work on the show, the musical’s special effects team is the same as the 1985 movie’s: Tony Doublin, John Naulin, and John Buechler – joined by Greg McDougal and Tom Devlin. And the blood will flow so freely that the first few rows will be designated as a splash zone. Laura Fine Hawkes, who last designed The Lieutenant of Inishmore at the Taper Theater in Los Angeles, provides the sets, with costumes by Joe Kucharski and lighting by Jeff Ravitz. Stage managing is Mike Lemek.
Composer and lyricist Mark Nutter won a LA Drama Critics Circle Award for Re-Animator the Musical‘s cheerfully disturbing score. His previous stage credits include the international hit The Bicycle Men; Christmas Smackdown (created with the equally demented Cynthia Carle); and Wild Men. Hes also known for his work on 3rd Rock From the Sun and Saturday Night Live. His recent CD Twisted Songs for Twisted Sophisticates has been banned from the airwaves.
Stuart Gordon directs. Prior to the Re-Animator movie, he spent fifteen years as the founder and artistic director of the Organic Theater of Chicago, where he co-created and directed 37 original productions, including Bleacher Bums and the world premiere of David Mamets Sexual Perversity in Chicago. Gordon has also directed four more films based on Lovecraft, among them the critically-acclaimed From Beyond and Dagon. Gordons most recent stage credits include the still-running Nevermore: An Evening with Edgar Allan Poe, featuring a breathtaking performance from Re-Animator film star Jeffrey Combs.
