It seemed like a no-brainer: reviving a zombie flick for the theater amid a pop-culture craze for all things undead.
But bringing a musical adaptation of the 1985 cult classic "Re-Animator" to New York means entering a theater world crowded with resuscitated movies. When it makes its debut Tuesday at PTC Performance Space on 42nd Street, the show risks looking like another rehash joining the ranks of "Newsies" and "Sister Act."
"Re-Animator" has something a little different—six members of the original team behind the film, including writer-director Stuart Gordon. The group has remained attached to the unlikely material nearly three decades later, as if Stan Lee had been tapped to helm Broadway's "Spider-Man" musical.
"It just came to me and I could see it," Mr. Gordon, 64 years old, said of the musical adaptation. "So I went home and started sketching it."
Not only has Mr. Gordon returned to the director's seat, he worked with his original co-writers and three members of the film's special-effects crew, whose pre-digital gore proved remarkably effective on the stage.
In previews, Mr. Gordon said, the audience's top demand was more blood. The production now calls for two gallons of dyed baby shampoo and V8 juice for each show—enough to warrant a "splash zone" in the audience.
"They won't be happy until I do the elevator scene from 'The Shining' and they have to swim out of the theater," he mused during rehearsals this week.
As a musical, "Re-Animator" is a scrappy off-Broadway operation, using 11 actors and a one-man orchestra. The result, celebrated in Los Angeles during nine months onstage, is a paradox: an very faithful remake that transforms a movie about the experiments of a Frankenstein-like scientist into a 90-minute operetta with little dialogue.
"I was surprised how much it helped," Mr. Gordon said of revising the story for songs. "The love story is stronger. And it's funnier than the movie. I watch the movie now waiting for the songs."
The music and lyrics by Mark Nutter, who was selected by Mr. Gordon as a result of grisly music video posted on YouTube, include a five-minute number teased from a 10-second film fragment in which a dead body is wheeled down a hallway.
The "Re-Animator" remake benefits from cultural familiarity that has made such crossovers so popular on Broadway.
Dennis Paoli, a writer on the project who teaches gothic fiction at Hunter College, describes extensions of known brands as "pre-marketing, which is unfortunately driving the industry."
But the participation of the original creative team means the musical isn't a cynical retread.
"Especially as a fan, it helps you not second-guess creative decisions with Stuart on board," said Mike Lemek, the play's 24-year-old stage manager, who grew up attending horror conventions and devouring Mr. Gordon's interviews in Fangoria magazine. "We have the blessing we need."
"Re-Animator" runs through July 22 as part of the New York Musical Theatre Festival.
~http://online.wsj.com/
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