Recently, we had an opportunity to sit down with Christopher Bond, the co-director and co-creator of Evil Dead The Musical. The following is our interview with man who is bringing the latest incarnation of Evil Dead to the fans.
House of Horror (HoH): Tell us fans a little bit about yourself and your love for the genre?
Christopher Bond (CB): I was born and raised in Toronto and went to school for theater. There I really got into the arts and I took a drama and film medial that was more focused on film. During this time, the genre I loved the most was horror and it was because of Evil Dead. The thing I love about Evil Dead is that I think Sam Raimi really pioneered a new vision for horror by mixing it with comedy. It was more slapstick and just off the wall fun with a three stooges influence and blood guzzling out in all different colors. I also love all of George Romero's work and even get into the old school classics like Friday the 13th and TCM. Recently I have been getting into the more ghetto stuff like Cabin Fever which I kind of see as an open love letter to Sam Raimi.
HoH: Tell us a little bit about where the idea for Evil Dead The Musical came from?
CB: The way it all shook down is that I was performing in a lot of theater and in one particular show, The Rocky Horror Show. I saw all these fans who really weren’t your traditional theater types coming out each night. It was kind like a cult and these same people were fans of the genre [Horror]. I thought to myself that I would love to come up with my own show that would have a cult following. I loved horror and thought how cool would it be to get horror geeks like myself to the theater.
Well it wasn’t easy, so I spent a lot of time going over what I thought would be fun. It was really Evil Dead 2 which I had seen many times that I thought had the basis for what could be a fabulous musical. You have this great setting in the cabin where all the action takes place. The cabin itself is the biggest character in the show. You have these great stereotypical horror characters which is a lot of fun. There is the iconic hero Ash who is just throwing out these witty heroic lines. He is the ultimate protagonist and I saw him as a hero and what does a hero need more than a song? There are hordes of zombies assaulting the cabin and what would be more fun that when they were attacking, they are singing too.
So I partnered with George Reinblatt, the writer, who was a comedy writer for the Just for Laughs Festival in Canada and I asked him what he thought of Evil Dead 2. He said “why don’t we just make all the Evil Deads?”, because the first films had some great characters. That is why the show was original called Evil Dead 1 & 2: The Musical. We took the five college students from the first film and three additional characters from the second film and mashed them together to make this great story with music. So George began writing scenes and I wrote a bit of music and it all began to come together. The great thing about Evil Dead is when you mention to people what you are working on, everyone wants to get involved. So we never had a problem finding people to build sets, do effects, or even sing. We didn’t have any money, because we were just a bunch of kids right out of university, but we were fortunate enough to have a lot of friends that were dying to get involved with this project. It has that appeal, the same appeal that brings in the audience. The show has slowly been evolving over the last four years and we’ve changed the ending to include the S-Mart ending so now we have all three movies and is now known as Evil Dead The Musical. The show has really evolved from the days when we performed in a bar (Tranzac) in Canada to Off-Broadway. Now we have added even more music, the best talent you can find, and even more blood than you can ever dream of.
HoH: What can horror fans and in particular Evil Dead fans come to expect when they come to see the show?
CB: They can expect one thing for sure, that we are going to give them the films. We taken great care in staying true to the films and when you have such passionate fans as Evil Dead does, you can deviate for one second, but they have to understand that we are taking it to the next level by musicalizing everything and it is very campy. We promise you will have a few drink and we are going to hose down the audience with lots of blood. The fans are going to get everything that they could ever possibly want from a musical of their favorite movie. There is no baloney. It is the films and a lot of jokes pumped into and all the gore they could ever want. They will see all their favorite scenes from Ash cutting his hand off to Linda’s decapitation. This is every Evil Dead fans’ wildest dream come to life. Anyone who isn’t a fan of the films or even musicals, but loves seeing something that you can laugh your ass off and have a great time, this show is for you as well. If you are a fan, you will come out very satisfied. It is our honor to put on this show and bring this great cultural icon to life on the stage. I would be disappointed in any Evil Dead fan if he/her didn’t come and check us out and I know if they do, they are going to love it and come back another 4 or 5 times. It is going to be the most amazing musical any horror fan has ever seen.
HoH: You spoke earlier about the cabin being the main character of the show, tell us a little bit about it?
CB: It blew me away that the Tony award-winning set designer David Gallo is just as big an Evil Dead fan as we are and to have a guy who is going to design the cabin be an Evil Dead junkie was amazing. He really got it from day one and knew exactly what we were looking for and all the icons that were in the cabin that are from the movies, we got them. We are talking about the lamp and the deer or in our case the Canadian Moose. The lamp comes alive, as well as, the books and the clock. All the bits and pieces that only the fans would know. We even have a little Freddy Krueger glove hanging over the door just like in the shed. We have a Rocky Horror Show poster of that musical just like they had with the Hills Have Eyes poster. Every little thing you would want to see in the cabin is there and the best part is that it all comes to life right before your eyes.
HoH: We hear that the effects in the show are amazing. What can the fans expect to see?
CB: We are also fortunate enough to have a guy named Louis Zakarian heading our special effects and mask design. He’s a guy who has worked for NBC on Saturday Night Live and Conan. Our zombies look amazing. The great mask and blood work we are doing, along with all the blood flying around the audience will blow the fans away. The first two rows in the theater are know as the “Splatter Zone” and anyone with tickets there shouldn’t be wearing their best Armani to the show, because they are going to get some blood splashed on them. It is going to be a blast.
HoH: We have read that Bruce Campbell helped you secure the right for this new incarnation of Evil Dead. Is this true?
CB: When we were first getting the show off the ground it not easy getting permission to do this kind of thing. So we contacted Bruce through his webpage and explained what we were doing up here in Canada, that we were writing this show and putting out our own money into it. It was small and we were a bunch of students, but we were taking it very serious, because we were such big fans. We explained how we had a background in writing, theater, and production. We than went on to ask who we need to talk to and Bruce was actually quite helpful in pointing us in the right direction. I am not saying that he pulled any strings, but the people we spoke with were very helpful in accommodating our request and getting us information. The legal stuff took a very long time since all the films are owned by different entities. In the beginning, they were very cool in letting us try new things out. Now with our move to off-Broadway, we have worked with Sam’s people and they have been very helpful. Bruce later sent us an email congratulating us on our success.
HoH: We know what a DEADITE is in the movies, but I have read that you consider those who attend the show DEADITES. What is a DEADITE to you?
CB: A DEADITE is a true fan of the Evil Dead culture. They are the ones that are going make this show; sink or swim, because if they aren’t happy than this show doesn’t do well. These are the fans that we hope are going to come out and support us. I haven’t had an Evil Dead fan come up to me and say that we haven’t done the films justice. We hope they get involved and spread the word to other fans. This show is for the fans.
HoH: Can you share with us the process of bring this production to New York?
CB: It took a long time. The first couple of runs were in Toronto and we were fortunate enough to do the Just for Laugh Comedy Festival in Montreal where we were showcased to producers from around the world. The guy who really stepped up and got what we were doing and who came up with a way to make the show work in NYC while still giving us the artistic freedom we needed as far as staying true to the films was William Franzblau. He has had a lot of successes in NYC and he isn’t a guy who has just done Broadway and in theater. He has a lot of experience working in the Rock n’ Roll arena and has taken a lot of show on tour. He really gets the show and knows that it isn’t just a bit of theater, but a rocking bloody musical experience. It took a lot of time. We’ve re-written the show and added the AOD ending. It also took a lot of time working out the legality just to secure the rights. We really have beefed up things, added more special effects and hired the right people, but I actually think it worked out well, because we are launching the show in the fall and Halloween is right around the corner.
But I will tell you this much, as far as a fan goes, it doesn’t matter if you are a fan of the films or not, you are going to love it, because the show is great. It is a lot of fun. The jokes are fast and furious. The songs are catchy and will linger in your head for days to follow. Yeah it took a few extra years to develop the show and get it to where we are today, but we are thrilled to be here and we are getting some great buzz in NYC. I am pretty confident that we are going to deliver on what the fans have been waiting for.
HoH: When does the show open and how long is the run?
CB: We are opening previews to the public on Monday October 2nd at the New World Stage at 340 West 50th Street between 8th and 9th avenue in Manhattan. The official opening for the show begins on Wednesday, November 1st and is set for an unlimited run. Tickets are available at the box office or online at our official site EvilDeadtheMusical.com.
We would like to thank Christopher for taking the time to speak with us and wish him all the success in the world with the musical. We know that we will be there for many shows.
