Review - Night of the Living Dead: The Musical

Night of the Living Dead: The Musical. Now there’s something you don’t hear everyday. This show is the brainchild of Jack Schultz who is the writer of the script and lyrics with music by Kathleen Dooley. It is based on the George A. Romero’s classic zombie horror film 'Night of the Living Dead'.

If you’ve seen the film before than you know the premise of this story. It follows the original movie very closely with only a couple of minor changes for this live productions. It was put on by The Riverfront Playhouse in Aurora, IL. It was a little difficult for me to find the playhouse as it has a street address but is actually in a plaza so you have to walk about half a block to it. It is situated in two old connecting storefront buildings. I think that is the charm of the place as it feels very personal and is how you can imagine old neighborhood theatres were before the multi-plex cinemas came to life. The theatre sits probably about 100-120 people in a traditional seats in a gradual declining in elevation setting with a very small stage that you’re sitting almost right on top of. They have a great assortment of decorations hanging on the walls or shelves that range anywhere from a swordfish to a Viking helmet. I like it!

As with the original movie it has a very small cast. They were in order of appearance:

• News Anchor………………………………..Bernie Weiler
• Tiger Savini (reporter in the field).Tim Curtis
• Barbara………………………………………..Emily Fuller
• The lady who lived here……………….Sarah Knauf
• The Legion of the Undead……………Connie Pfister, Lydia Garza,
• ............................................Kate Brunelle, Kevin Manion,
• ..............................................Andrew Manion, Eric Gewiniger
• ...............................................and Chris Ward
• Ben………………………………………….....Jackson Schultz
• Tom…………………………………………....Jeffrey Schilling
• Harry Cooper……………………………… Steve Fiorito
• Helen Cooper……………………………… Sherry Winchester Schultz
• Karen Cooper……………………………… Clare Manion
• Judy…………………………………………....Heidi Schultz
• Sheriff McClelland……………………….Shawn Dooley
• Deputy Walter…………………………….Tim Curtis

Of course what’s a good musical with out songs:

Act I

1. Special News Bulletin
2. I Saw My Dad Today
3. Twenty Seven Miles Down The Two Lane Blacktop
4. The Tom and Harry Show
5. She Isn’t Getting Any Worse
6. It All Comes Down to This

Act II

1. News Update
2. Not Too Popular
3. He’s Out There
4. I Didn’t Think That It Would End This Way
5. When There’s No More Room in Hell

Ok I don’t think it needs to be said but just in case, this is a comedy. I image it must have been pretty hard to write lyrics to each of these songs to tell the story and make them funny, but they did. I knew the writer was truly demented (in my kind of way) when he starts the show off with you watching an old black & white episode of Lassie. Your television watching gets interrupted by an transmission from The Emergency Broadcast System.

The entire play is generally funny all the way through with some very, very funny moments. A lot of those moments are done with just one characters silent incredulous stare at another character. The jokes are set up well so when they get to that silent moment the laugh is that much bigger. While all of the songs are funny my favorites where the ‘Special News Bulletin’, ‘News Update’, ‘The Tom and Harry Show’ and ‘He’s Out There’, the latter of which is rather creepy and disturbing.

Individual performances that I thought were especially good are worth a mention. Jeffery Schilling as Tom, his naïve innocence bordering on stupidity was great. Emily Fuller as Barbara gave a great I’m so removed from the reality of what’s going on I’m just going to be a nuisance to everyone…..until I get creepy. Bernie Weiler as the News Anchor cracked me up. He looked very much like the straight man to a lot of the jokes he was telling in his ‘updates’. He also performs his parts alone and has to stand up in front of the entire audience delivering his line solo. He flubbed a couple of times but recovered quickly and kept it all going with a good laugh. Shawn Dooley was exceptionally funny as the Sheriff. He comes on toward the end of the play as he does in the movie so you really don’t expect him to be as funny as he is. His southern/country folk accent was enough to get you started on laughing and then he lets it roll by getting more and more outlandish.

This show is an annual event at The Riverfront Playhouse during the Halloween season and many of the people who attended came dressed in full make up as…….well zombies. Most came in groups so the walking dead invaded downtown Aurora that night. It’s a fun little show to go to and the writer is quite creative. I’m going to give this an 8 out of 10. I think I’ll try to get some friends to come with me next year and we can join the legion of the dead.

Remember; when there’s no more room in Hell, the dead will walk the Earth. So get to a shopping mall fast. Until then……….arrghhh…….oh my God………they’re coming to eat my brains…….run! run!.........aaaggggggg……….