If you love campy 50’s sci-fi horror movies and talking, singing severed heads; you’ll love Head, the Musical.
Based on the 1962 horror classic The Brain That Wouldn’t Die, the world premiere of Head, the Musical is running at the Met Theatre, Friday and Saturday nights through Nov. 4.
Like Little Shop of Horrors and the Rocky Horror Picture Show before it, Head, the Musical is a spoof of 50’s B horror movies.
The basic premise is of a once gifted scientist gone mad and his attempts to procure a new body for his now tragically decapitated fiancé.
The cast does an exceptional job with limited material. Charles St. Michael as Bill, the mad scientist, has the rock and roll singing chops to carry the role. Stephanie Ann Saunders as Jan does incredible work. She can hold her head up high despite the fact that 90% of the time she is just a bitter head on a table. Mark Pinckering is excellent as Kurt the lab assistant. Much like Marty Feldman’s brilliant Igor in 1974’s Young Frankenstein, Kurt’s deformities seem to change in severity depending on whom he is with. Becca Battoe gives as energetic F-bomb dropping performance as Jeannie the sex attic trying to seduce the doctor. Amber Faith plays Seductra, a stripper and potential body donor. Chance Havens as the creature and several secondary characters, including the lascivious trench-coated strip club patron, is hilarious. David Bickford as several characters also helps the show along. The highlight of the show however, was Fiona Bates as the tragically scarred Doris, the doctors long lost flame. Her rendition of “Damaged Goods” was a show stealer.
The direction by L. Flint Esquerra was good. The show has great pace and he used every bit of the small 30 seat theatre to it’s utmost. The set design by Paul Koslo helps with campy elements, such as a drive in theatre that perfectly works with the feel of the material.
Where the show lacks, is unfortunately with the music. While many of the songs had a fun 50’s beat they were largely forgettable. The rule of thumb with a musical is that you want your audience to leave the theatre with at least one of the songs or some clever lyrics stuck in their head. That was not the case here. Perhaps with a re-tooling of the music and lyrics on most of the songs writer/composer Kevin Fry would have a hit on his hands.
Another issue was that the band was so loud in some spots that they overpowered the singers. While it is wonderful to have a live band, in a space this small it might have served the show better to record them so that sound levels could better be controlled.
All and all the show was great fun and worth seeing. With some re-tooling it has the potential to reach the cult status of some of its predecessors.
Beware if you sit in the front row that the cast will molest you. If you don’t mind a little T&A you will surely enjoy this part of the show. I would have enjoyed it more if it had been Bambi 1 (Honor Nezzo) doing the molesting instead of the creature but hey, it was still fun.
Head, the Musical, plays Fridays at 9 p.m., Saturdays at 8 and 10:30 p.m., through Nov. 6
Book, music and lyrics by Kevin fry. Directed by L. Flint Esquerra. Musical Director: Robert Shaw. Produced by Gabrieal Griego and Paul Koslo. Sound design by Joseph “Sloe” Slawinski. Alicia Ziff, Lighting design.
Click here to get tickets.
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