Whats your favorite stage play?

If you’re like me, you’d probably answer, “Sweeney Todd“, “Little Shop Of Horrors“, or even “The Rocky Horror Show“.

Sure, there were major productions of “Dracula“, “Frankenstein“, and “Jekyll And Hyde“, but did you know that there were also stage plays made of “Carrie”, the Stephen King/John Cougar Mellencamp collabaration “Ghost Brothers of Darkland County” (originally simply titled, “Ghosts“), and Cannibal! The Musical? I didn’t think so.

This brings me to very happily announce the 2009 production of the stage version of AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON.

How can they do this, you ask? Easy. They’re using a script based on the BBC radio script from 1997. Believe it or not, this script is even more fast-paced than the 1981 John Landis film, has new scenes (which also goes into the original werewolf and Slaughtered Lamb patrons’ background story!), fleshes out (pardon the pun) a lot of scenes, and has way more werewolf than was in the movie.

Are there special effects? Of course. In fact, a major movie special effects company is doing the squishy work for the victims, as well as the werewolf itself (including that painful transformation scene, and quadrapedal beast on the loose). Rick Baker himself would be proud.

How are the actors? Judging from the advance screening I witnessed, the actor who plays David is young, has the Zac Efron looks, and doesn’t break character. There is a big difference between him and Zac Efron, though – He can act his way out of a paper bag.

The part of the unfortunate Jack, our favorite meatloaf-to-be, in the production I’d seen, is an incredibly charismatic guy. He may not know how to sing ‘Santa Lucia’, but it adds that much more likeable aspects to him and his character. He delivers his lines well, and his comedic timing is spot-on.

The regulars of the Slaughtered Lamb are great. The barmaid, in a dramatic change from the movie, is now saucy, and the actress does a fantastic accent. This is already a more welcome scene than in the film, where the role was played by an older, grandmotherly type. The bloke who tells the airplane joke does a wonderful job, and my being a linguistics hobbyist, suspects that he really is from “across the pond” (but I suspect not from where he is portraying to be from). The young man playing chess with the joke-teller sets the mood by very audibly showing his disdain of the Yanks invading the pub of which he is familiar. They are all a treat to watch.

I cannot wait to see the actress they have playing Alex, as I had developed an immediate crush on Jenny Agutter upon seeing the movie at 12, back in 1981. For the record, Jenny also provides the voice of the same character in the BBC radio version.

Another thing worth noting is that the stage and radio versions have scenes that were not in the movie. Scenes which explain the back story of the first werewolf, and why the patrons of the Slaughtered Lamb are protecting its secret.

After seeing the small but significant scenes that I was allowed to see, I can safely say that this is definitely something I badly want to see in its entirety.

Showings are as follows:

October 30 and 31

Freeport Performing Arts Center
30 Holbrook St.
Freeport, ME
04032

The Facebook site is here:

An American Werewolf In London Stage Performance

THE GOOD: The fact that the full show is totally FREE. You heard me right – there is no charge. Plus, it’s based on one of the best horror movies of all time!

THE BAD: The fact that there are only two shows.

THE UGLY: Jack’s face, via special effects, after two conversations with David, as the undead.

Tags: maine, moors, play, werewolf

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 7th, 2009 at 1:03 am and is filed under Horror Commentary. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.