Zombie Prom - not the blood and guts you think it is
The plot is classic: boy meets girl, boy wins girl, boy loses girl, boy wins girl. Set in the fabulous 1950s, this is the tale of a sweet teenage Gidget-type girl named Toffee and the "rebel without a cause" Jonny whose name is noticeably spelled without the "h". While the unlikely pairing falls in love at Enrico Fermi High School, the severe-as-Stalin tyrant principal Miss Delilah Strict seeks to intervene and persuade Toffee to distance herself from the potentially troublesome Jonny. A despondent Jonny throws himself into the smoky silo of a local nuclear plant and ends up buried as toxic waste in the nearest ocean.
Love, however, works wonders and Jonny reappears, somewhat the worse for wear, and, logically, becomes the center of a media frenzy whipped up by sleazy reporter Eddie Flagrante. Jonny wants to return to school, Miss Strict will have none of it, and Toffee has some second thoughts about his transformation as a zombie. But love, yet again, conquers all, and the issues are resolved neatly on prom night, thanks to the reporter’s exposé of certain facts and a shocking revelation by Miss Strict that… well, you really had to have been there!
Zombie Prom does what a musical is supposed to do. It makes you escape reality and focus on the fun and hilarity. It's a little too gentle in its parody of '50s culture to qualify as trendy exercise in snide Postmodernism. It's more a 1950s horror comic book brought to life as a musical comedy, and our staging of Zombie Prom seeks to emphasize that. Lighting is harsh at times and almost blurry at others, seeking to serve that same role as ink on paper. The costumes, colors, and movements are exaggerated, reminders of how much needs to be presented when you are lacking the third dimension.
Yes, there is a message: be nice to people who are different from you. Yes, some of the moves clone the now-classic choreography seen in Michael Jackson’s iconic 1983 “Thriller” video, and there are other iconic modern cultural references (slushy anyone?) -- but the primary emphasis is on 50s nostalgia, romance and light-hearted fun.
Love, however, works wonders and Jonny reappears, somewhat the worse for wear, and, logically, becomes the center of a media frenzy whipped up by sleazy reporter Eddie Flagrante. Jonny wants to return to school, Miss Strict will have none of it, and Toffee has some second thoughts about his transformation as a zombie. But love, yet again, conquers all, and the issues are resolved neatly on prom night, thanks to the reporter’s exposé of certain facts and a shocking revelation by Miss Strict that… well, you really had to have been there!
Zombie Prom does what a musical is supposed to do. It makes you escape reality and focus on the fun and hilarity. It's a little too gentle in its parody of '50s culture to qualify as trendy exercise in snide Postmodernism. It's more a 1950s horror comic book brought to life as a musical comedy, and our staging of Zombie Prom seeks to emphasize that. Lighting is harsh at times and almost blurry at others, seeking to serve that same role as ink on paper. The costumes, colors, and movements are exaggerated, reminders of how much needs to be presented when you are lacking the third dimension.
Yes, there is a message: be nice to people who are different from you. Yes, some of the moves clone the now-classic choreography seen in Michael Jackson’s iconic 1983 “Thriller” video, and there are other iconic modern cultural references (slushy anyone?) -- but the primary emphasis is on 50s nostalgia, romance and light-hearted fun.