Ryan Luhning is a happy man. After a lot of hard work, planning, and negotiating, the artistic director of Ground Zero Theatre is watching Evil Dead: The Musical play to sold out crowds, standing ovations, and a lot of blood splattered people.
While we haven’t been able to see the show yet (look for an online review later this month) we did catch up with Ryan a few weeks before the show opened to discuss all things dead and evil.
When the show was announced, immediately a buzz began. This is one of the most hotly anticipated shows in Calgary, both for audiences and its actors.
“We have seen the show twice in Toronto and I knew right from the get go it was something I wanted to share with our audience. We started a dialogue early on about bringing their version of the show to Calgary. We are very lucky that we have become the west coast affiliate of the Toronto production. We have acquired their set and a lot of their props and costumes, but are still able to use a lot of local talent. A main key element of our organization is to make sure we bring work to our own community. We have had ticket sales from Seattle, Vancouver, places further away that couldn’t make the trip to Toronto. We are very privileged because we are the only professional company outside of Toronto to produce it in Canada, and it is ours now. A lot of work has gone into making sure that we bring this giant, silly funny rock n roll goofball zombie show as the best we can do it for our community.”
It is easy to get caught up in the excitement. I remember my brother and I watching the film Evil Dead in our parents basement. Based on Sam Raimi’s cult hit movie series (Evil Dead, Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn, Army of Darkness) five vacationing college students break into a secluded cabin in the woods. There they discover The Necronomicon, an ancient flesh-bound book containing blood-inked spells with the power to summon the demons of Candar. There are millions more who also remember that experience, which is why the musical has become such a cult phenomenon.
“There are a few Holy Trilogies - Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, but since I was a kid mine was Evil Dead, Evil Dead 2 and Army of Darkness. I am a huge Deadite, a huge Bruce Campbell fan and seen the movies dozens of times. I have a bunch of friends who are also huge fans. It is going to be a rip-roaring good time in the theatre.”
The challenge, he says, is not in convincing the hardcore Evil Dead fans (called “Deadites”) but the casual Calgarian to plunk down their money. The company had the same issue with Urinetown a few years ago until word got out how awesome that production was. The same thing is happening with Evil Dead.
“The fans of Evil Dead are coming. Our job as a company is to make sure we get everybody who just likes to have a good time to come to the show. They can wander the streets singing Join Us or All of the men in my life keep getting killed by Candarian Demons. There are so many catchy songs in the show.”
Having bought the soundtrack, I can concur with that. How can you go wrong with songs titled Housewares Employee, Look Whose Evil Now and my personal favorite What The Fuck Was That? The show does receive comparisons to another cult classic.
“The audience is very much a part of the show. When Ash starts saying lines from the movies, the audience was shouting along. They sang along with the cast. It is very much a Rocky Horror Show for our generation. Sometimes the guys in Toronto said the title worked against them, because it was hard to convince people outside of the fan base to see a show called Evil Dead: The Musical. We met a waiter at a restaurant in Toronto who was dragged by the show, he didn’t want to go but when he saw it he took 20 people the next night. The core audience will come, we have the task of convincing the average theatre-goer to come to something called Evil Dead.”
The show’s run has already been extended by two weeks, although all of the tickets in the “Splatter Zone” (the first three rows, think Shamu with blood) are sold out. However act fast as many nights are sold out. Reviews have been positive from press and patrons alike, and this promises to be a theatre experience like no other.

PHOTO CREDIT: Sean Dennie, Photoganda | Tyler Rive as Ash