These past couple of weeks I have been working on Ball State Department of Theatre and Dance’s current musical, Evil Dead: The Musical. I worked wardrobe, which meant I had to be backstage for all of the performances, although it is custom before opening to hold something called “crew view.” This is just when the cast puts on a special performance of the whole show just for the crew because we wouldn’t get to see the show we’re working so hard for otherwise. This crew view was particularly rough because costumes weren’t finished and the set didn’t have all the necessary pieces in place quite yet, which meant that at some parts we had to use our imaginations. But overall, it was still a great show. This musical is a spoof off the original movies, which I have never seen so I had no idea what to expect. Honestly, I didn’t even know it was supposed to be funny until after it started. After the first song was finished though, it was clear that this show was meant to be one in which the audience could just come and enjoy a nice evening filled with laughs. It was not a show meant to make the audience think or to try and change the audience’s opinion on a topic, as the majority of theatre is meant for, ever since the morality plays of Oedipus and Everyman. Personally, I’m not a fan of farce, but Evil Dead was put together quite well and the mixture of sexual puns, stupid puns, and an excess of fake, sticky blood made from corn syrup was just enough to actually elicit quite a few laughs from me. It didn’t hurt that the girl playing the head demon was wearing footy pajamas and is maybe one of the most talented musical theatre actresses the department of theatre has in this graduating class. Maybe I didn’t leave this show a little smarter or a little more open-minded, but I had a damn good night and I truly appreciated hearing the laughter of the audience every night as I sat backstage.
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