The first time I saw Evil Dead, it was on a gritty VHS tape rented from a wire rack somewhere near the back of my neighborhood grocery store's video section (which doubled as the tobacco counter). I remember one thing about that virginal viewing experience - I thought, probably at age 11 or so, that the movie was hilarious.
The next time I saw it, I realized it wasn't exactly supposed to be that funny. But that didn't stop me from enjoying Sam Raimi's other films in the series.
Now, Evil Dead is coming to life here in Bend - as a musical. The musical, which has been endorsed by Raimi himself, has been performed several times in other cities over the past few years, but for Bend, this is a massively innovative addition to our theatrical scene. I found out about the project about two months ago when I ran into local filmmaker Chris Kas at a bar and he told me that he was directing the project. Judging from his prior work, which includes a bevy of low-budget horror flicks, it seems Kas is a perfect fit for this project.
2nd Street cast photo:
"Sam Raimi and the Evil Dead movies were a huge influences on me as a young filmmaker. I'm very excited to bring a production like this to Bend. This is not your typical musical with the kind of adult humor, death and dismemberment it's not for everyone," Kas said today.
The 2nd Street Theater rolled out today the cast for the musical production, which Kas will direct with Sandy Klein. The cast includes Todd Hanson, Jeanine Faith, Hector Ariceaga, Jenny Mackenzie, Michael Coffman, Vanessa Farnsworth, Brad Knowles, Cameron Saunders and Amber Barnhart. Appropriately, the musical runs for the entire month of October, concluding with a Halloween night performance.
Here's a clip from a New York City performance of the musical...beware of F-bombs!
