Last year, Stuart Gordon, co-writers Dennis Paoli and William J. Norris, and composer/lyricist Mark Nutter adapted Gordon’s 1985 genre classic RE-ANIMATOR into a musical for the stage, playing to rave reviews for a sold-out six month run in Los Angeles – and winning six LA Weekly Awards, including Musical of the Year… Now, it’s being brought back from the dead – and it’s heading (pun intended!) to New York City!
RE-ANIMATOR THE MUSICAL plays at the PTC Performance Space, located at 555 West 42nd Street JULY 17-22. Tickets for RE-ANIMATOR THE MUSICAL are $25, a can be purchased by calling (212) 352-3101 or by visiting www.nymf.org.
RE-ANIMATOR THE MUSICAL tells the story of Herbert West, a brilliant young medical student who has created a glowing green serum that can bring the dead back to life. What should be a medical breakthrough results in hideous monstrosities and ghastly consequences. “I guess he just wasn’t fresh enough,” is West’s constant refrain as his quest for fresh subjects results in the murders of half the faculty of the medical school.
The original Los Angeles cast reteams for the NYMF production. George Wendt, best-known as the affable Norm from Cheers, plays the Dean of the Medical School who West transforms into a mindless zombie. Chris L. McKenna, the star of Gordon’s neo-noir thriller King of the Ants, is Dan Cain, Herbert’s hapless roommate who finds himself drawn into the mayhem. And operatic Jesse Merlin, who played the President of the United States in the long running The Beastly Bombing, is Dr. Carl Hill who loses his head for Meg, the dean’s beautiful daughter (Rachel Avery,) only to actually lose it at the hands of Herbert West. But thanks to the glowing re-agent, Dr. Hill is still able to take his curtain call with his head tucked underneath his arm. Completing the cast are Mark Beltzman, Cynthia Carle, Brian Gillespie, Marlon Grace and Liesel Hanson, Tyler Milliron, and featuring Graham Skipper as Herbert West.
Winning the LA Drama Critics Circle Award for their work on the show, the musical’s special effects team is the same as the 1985 movie’s: Tony Doublin, John Naulin, and John Buechler – joined by Greg McDougal and Tom Devlin. And the blood will flow so freely that the first few rows will be designated as a “splash zone.” Laura Fine Hawkes, who last designed The Lieutenant of Inishmore at the Taper Theater in Los Angeles, provides the sets, with costumes by Joe Kucharski and lighting by Jeff Ravitz. Stage managing is Mike Lemek.
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