Groovy deadites to swarm Midland, douse audiences with blood in production of ‘Evil Dead: The Musical’

MIDLAND, MI — With autumn settling in and Halloween nearing, it may be time to take in a classy evening of live theater. Just be sure you’re ready to get doused with “blood” and aren’t easily offended by a comical excess of gore.

For the second year, Midland-based The Friction Theatre is putting on “Evil Dead: The Musical.” More than just a stage adaptation of the seminal “Evil Dead” films, the event is an immersive experience. Attendees can walk through an “Evil Dead”-themed haunted house dubbed a “scare walk” and sit in a “blood zone,” where audience members will find them sprayed with fake blood.

“We want to show theater is more than just having to put on your Sunday best, sit in the dark and applaud politely,” said Chris Krause, who cofounded the company with his wife Megan Krause Meyer. “You can do edgy stuff, stuff that is irreverent.”

“We want people to feel like they went to a little festival,” Meyer added.

Shows are held at 8 p.m. every Friday and Saturday in October at 1403 Washington St., within the Midland Towne Center strip mall. Doors open at 7 p.m., and tickets are available online, going for $25 for general admission and $35 for seats in the blood zone. Those with a valid student ID get $5 off.

Written by George Reinblatt, the musical was first staged in Toronto in 2003. In 2006, it moved to an off-Broadway run. Regional productions, such as Midland’s, have since been performed worldwide.

Krause is directing the adaptation, with Meyer handling choreography and Christian Heintzelman doing musical direction. Krause, who is a Sanford native, and Meyer both worked in the professional theater, movie, and television worlds while living in New York. Krause now teaches theater at Central Michigan University.

For the uninitiated, the cult franchise spawned with the 1981 release of indie film “The Evil Dead,” written and directed by Sam Raimi and starring living legend Bruce Campbell, both Michigan natives. The first movie follows five Michigan State University students who seek to spend a weekend at a remote cabin.

They discover an archeologist recently stayed at the cabin to research an ancient Sumerian book bound in human flesh, the Necronomicon. On playing an audio recording of the researcher’s recitation of the book’s passages, “deadite” demons arise and all hell breaks loose.

The movie’s heavy gore resulted in controversy, with it initially receiving an X rating in the U.S. It has been referred to as a “splatter film” or, in the United Kingdom, a “video nasty.”

Raimi wrote and directed the movie’s 1987 sequel, “Evil Dead II,” which injected more slapstick humor and saw Campbell’s hapless character Ashley J. “Ash” Williams transition from terrorized victim to a quippy, chainsaw-handed, shotgun-wielding icon. Raimi and Campbell returned for a third installment in 1992, the comedic “Army of Darkness,” which finds Ash catapulted to medieval Europe.

Since then, two modern reboots/sequels/spinoffs have graced theater screens — 2013′s “Evil Dead” and 2023′s “Evil Dead Rise” — while Campbell returned to his signature role for three seasons of the Starz series “Ash vs Evil Dead.”

Krause and Meyer said the stage production is mostly an amalgamation of the first two films, with some memorable one-liners from “Army of Darkness” tossed in as Easter eggs.

“Act One is the first movie and Act Two goes into the second,” Krause said. “A lot of the classic lines from ‘Army of Darkness’ are in this as well. It’s a little mix of all three. To me, ‘Evil Dead’ is that cool mix of comedy and horror. Our musical is very much in that range.”

The company altered the indoor space to look like a cabin in the woods. They also constructed sets so the lobby appears as an abandoned S-Mart, the fictional big box store where Ash works in the movies.

As part of its charm, the production hews closely to the first films’ shoestring budgets.

“We play into the fact that these movies were very low-budget,” Meyer said. “There are lots of jokes for true ‘Evil Dead’ fans to be like, ‘That’s funny.’”

Krause and Meyer said one of the most difficult aspects of the production was casting Ash.

“It’s a very specific type of comedy that Ash has,” Krause said. “It’s a very demanding role.”

Portraying Ash for the second year in a row is local actor Cameron Schott.

“Cam in the audition room and he just really got the comedy,” Krause said.

The venue can seat 100 people per performance, with the blood zone comprising the first two to three rows. While the blood does wash out, ponchos will be sold for those who want to shield themselves, as will “blood beer.”

There are no age restrictions, Krause and Meyer urged parental discretion, saying the raunchy content will be roughly equivalent to an R- or NC-17-rated film.

Krause and Meyer hope the “Evil Dead” show will lure people who would otherwise avoid live theater, and in turn keep them coming back for future performances.

“We knew it would attract people who aren’t just theater people,” Krause said. “With ‘Evil Dead,’ you get people who would never go to another theater.”

Since its founding, Friction Theatre has put on performances of “Cabaret,” a “Harry Potter” parody, and 1920s-style speakeasy shows. They plan to put on “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” in late February and March, with “The Three Musketeers” to follow in June.

“We hope (attendees) leave with having had so much fun their abs hurt from laughing,” Meyer said. “We’re so happy when the audience is laughing the whole time, talking about the jokes and the blood. We want people to enjoy all the specific extras and add-ons that they don’t get at usual shows.”

Groovy, as Ash Williams would say.