Night Of The Living Dead Live: Laura Loves/Reviews It.

On Friday night, I had the awesome privilege of attending the first opening night show of George A. Romero’s Night Of The Living Dead Live, at Theatre Passe Muraille downtown. Being a total Deadite, I was beyond excited to see what the geniuses behind Evil Dead: The Musical had come up with this time.

Another bonus for me, was my familiarity with most of the cast. Mike “Nug” Nahrgang, Trevor Martin, Darryl Hinds and Dale Boyer from the local comedy scene as well as ED:TM guarantee a great show practically by default, and I had no doubt Andrew Fleming and Gwynne Phillips would absolutely kill it in their roles (pun INTENDED.)…Chris Bond knows what he’s doing when it comes to this kind of thing.

As I’d hoped…the show was everything I imagined it would be, and so, so much more.

The show opens with the local Sheriff disposing of bodies – what a mess – setting the scene that follows, and what we’re all waiting for appears soon after – Jonny and Barbra, above the main set on a balcony to the left (I adore the way the stage is set up to display the outdoor and indoor scenes, by the way), at the graveyard. When suddenly – OH NO! Our focus is directed to right balcony – it’s one of THEM! After – well, you know what happens – Barbra scrambles to get away from her attacker – to the back of the theatre, down the steps, and through the crowd – ending up on the stage via the infamous house’s front door. Sadly (but not really, because it ends up being to our hilarious advantage), that’s pretty much the last we see of Barbra in a coherent state, as she is quickly joined by Ben, Harry, Helen, Tom, and Judy.

Did I mention the entire set, and cast, is in black and white? Well, it is. And it looks amazing. Black blood? Yup.

I’m not exaggerating when I say this is a flawless cast. Gwynne Phillips looks so much like Barbra it’s almost creepy. Darryl Hinds captures Ben’s mannerisms perfectly. Nug Nahrgang’s Harry is perfectly surly and ignorant.  Andrew Fleming delivers a stellar “They’re coming to get you, Barbra!” as the short lived Jonny, and returns as the happy-go lucky Tom, alongside his delightfully vapid girlfriend Helen…who Dale Boyer phenomenally plays at the same time as Harry’s wife, Helen (trust me, it works.).

The first act is a comedic re-telling of the film, hitting all the major points, with everything in-between being as much of a spoof and a play on the blatant racism and sexism in the film as possible, while keeping the show family friendly. (Yes, you can bring your kids.) The timing is perfect, and the cast captures an almost 4th wall breaking awareness of what’s happening to them as morale dissipates and the fighting begins, keeping true to the film’s ambiance, but with an added wit and silliness we could only ever get from Bond and co-writers Martin and Boyer.

Occasionally throughout the performance, the zombie horde is mentioned, and the audience’s attention is directed to the right balcony, which I was nothing short of delighted to see a sort of box seating section full of zombies in their finest evening attire, instructed to…cheer? by a light up sign that says “BLAAAAAAARGH!!!”. Really, it’s a thing.

The show uses every part of the theatre to it’s full advantage, combining standard stage elements and set pieces, to projections and (literal) audience participation….if you count that really pale guy sitting next to you who seems to be rather hungry…

After a brief intermission, the second act begins. However – I’m not going to say a single thing about it, other than IT’S TOTALLY EFFING AWESOME AND YOU’LL LOVE IT. I promise.

Bottom line? I laughed my ass off, and so did everyone around me. Genre fans, film fans, and nostalgia-ridden Deadites alike, NOTLDL has brought back that spooky fun experience we’ve all missed for the past few years.

After the show, be sure to hit up the bar upstairs to meet the cast, and indulge in the side array of themed cocktails. I had the Killer Kool-Aid…phew.

Here’s the show deets!

• Night of the Living Dead Live at the Theatre Passe Muraille (16 Ryerson Avenue) until May 19, 2013
• Performances are Tuesday to Sunday at 7:30pm with late shows on Friday and Saturday nights at 11pm
• Tickets are $29.50 – $59.50
• Tickets can be ordered online or by calling TPM box office at 416-504-7529

Bonus: Be sure to follow the show’s Facebook Page. They’re constantly announcing awesome ticket deals!

Okay, this is going to be a two-part thing. I’m going to go a little off the books here.

Before I finished writing this, Jess directed me to a not-so-great review of the show. Naturally, I took to Google to find this atrocity, and – surprise, surprise – the Star theatre critic didn’t like it. Or, I should say, he didn’t GET it.

Because I’m feeling rather shit-disturbing…y(?) today, I’ve decided to pick apart Star critic Richard Ouzounian‘s “review”. Pieces of the article in question are in bold.

“Night of the Living Dead Live, which opened April 26 at Theatre Passe Muraille, winds up being as redundant as its title.”
Redundant title? Night Of The Living DEAD. LIVE.

“I can’t think of the last time I saw a show open at TPM with a giant counter available to purchase show-related items, but that should give you an idea what this show is all about. It’s eyes on the box office, pure and simple.”
Um, hello, REALLY? Fans LOVE this shit. Remember Evil Dead? I have a poster, two shirts, and two blood-spattered plush animals. They would have been stupid to NOT have merch available. It’s reasonably priced, and so much was created because the people demanded it. Besides, who doesn’t love glow-in-the-dark stuff and themed shot glasses?

“George A. Romero’s 1968 film didn’t quite create the zombie franchise…”
lol what

“Shambling monsters, clueless humans, lots of gunshots and gore. Watch it closely and you can see The Walking Dead, in all of its high-tech sophistication, emerging from behind Romero’s blessedly primitive work.”
Or…Night Of The Living Dead, because, you know…

“But what’s up there is, in Act I, pretty much a recreation of the Romero film.”
Well – the title of the show, it’s Ni-

“It’s all in black and white, which gives it a kind of spurious chic and the sound effects are slickly co-ordinated. Still, you start to ask “why”?”
For fuck’s sake. Did you even SEE the original film, Richard?

“Some people are going to love it, like the guys in biker gear who spent intermission next to me on the sidewalk, announcing how many months ago they had bought their tickets, how much swag they were going to purchase, how many tequila shots they were planning to down and how thrilled they were to see Romero in the audience.”
Don’t forget fans of Evil Dead: The Musical, fans of NOTLD, horror fans in general, fan of the Toronto comedy scene, people who enjoy fun, and trivial things like “laughing”, “jokes”, and “poking fun at lines that you apparently don’t realize were actually in the film”. Those “guys in biker gear” are a prime example of what you clearly were not – a fan of anything related to the film, it’s genre, or the kind of fun humour that ED:TM initially brought us all together those years ago.

This is me booing you, Richard. BOOOO. Get off my fun and hilarious lawn.