This Halloween, Dayton Playhouse debuted a stage adaptation and affectionate parody of the classic movie that defined the zombie genre of today. The play is made to resemble the monochrome of the original film. All of the costumes, props, and makeup are shades of black, white, and gray. The sets and costumes all look great, but honestly the makeup is a bit odd, since they did the actor's faces more than anything else. As such, their less made-up arms and hands stick out a bit, but this is a minor detail and easy enough to look over.
The first act is a fairly straightforward (albeit tongue-in-cheek) re-telling of the movie. A woman named Barbara flees for her life as the dead begin to rise and gets cooped up in a house with several strangers, all scared for their own lives. We have Ben, a competent and resourceful black man who does the most to survive; Harry and Helen Cooper, an irrational man and his wife trying to look after their bitten daughter Karen in the cellar; and teenagers Tom and Judy. While Ben tries to fortify the house and formulate an escape, Harry insists on keeping everyone in the cellar (the "safest place"), and Helen and Judy (same actress) take turns looking after Karen.
There's some nice gags throughout this part of the show. A couple that stood out to me were the scary music stopping once Barbara reaches the house. She opens the front door again, we hear the music, and she closes the door to stop it again. Then, we have Ben fortifying the house while the radio gives instructions and advice, syncing up with his actions. As with the movie, Judy and Tom blow up trying to get the truck to the gas pump, Ben finally shoots Harry when he gets out of hand, and the house is overrun when Barbara sees her brother Johnny among the horde. Ben is forced into the cellar, finding that Karen has turned and is chowing down on her parents, and he has to put all three of them down. He lasts until morning, when he's shot and killed by Vince, mistaken for a zombie. As Police Chief McClelland speculates how things might have played out if they'd just gone into the cellar, the first act ends.
The second act goes off on a tangent from the movie, proposing scenario after scenario in which the characters might have been able to survive, all of them end in failure. They include:
-Everyone goes into the cellar, only for things to turn south after Karen reanimates. Harry shoots everyone dead (except Barbara, who attempts to leave the cellar and gets eaten.) Harry survives until morning, but gets shot just like Ben would have.
-Ben is an all-American white instead of a black man, switching actors with McClelland. Tom and Harry more readily listen to him, but the women are put off by his misogynistic tendencies. The house is still overrun, but Ben survives until morning. He gets shot by McClelland for not accepting his authority.
-Barbara, Judy and Helen take charge instead of the men. Things start off okay, but Tom runs out to Judy only to get himself and Judy set on fire. The men all end up outside and eaten, while it's implied that Karen ends up eating Helen and Barbara.
-One member of the group decides to sacrifice themself for the sake of the others, only for each of them to sacrifice themselves one after the other.
-The characters attempt to mimic the zombies in an effort to blend in with them. It falls apart when they balk while trying to eat someone. Barbara, however, goes full-on quisling and attacks Ben.
-Barbara attempts to teach her undead brother Johnny to be human again.
-The characters are armed with enough firepower to take out the undead easily, but don't have the training to use their weapons and only end up shooting themselves. Barbara survives unscathed, but accidentally pulls the pin out of a grenade.
Vince and McClellan finally conclude that there was no possible way for them to survive, because there was no way they could set their differences aside and just work together as a team since we just don't live in that kind of world. A final scenario plays out, set to a rousing musical number, where they do just that; banding together to take out the zombies and hold out until morning...only to still get shot by the anti-zombie cavalry.
This was an excellent send-up of the movie, and a fun way to spend the evening, especially if you're a fan of the zombie genre. While the original is still a classic horror film, it's still a very dated movie, and a product of its time in some ways. This play does a wonderful job celebrating what was good about it, while making fun of everything else.
This particular version can still be seen on the weekends until November 9, 2014 at Dayton Playhouse.
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