[ssba]

Re-Animator – The Musical

Reviewed by Lovell Estell III

Trepany House at the Steve Allen Theater

Through Nov. 23

RECOMMENDED:

Back in time for Halloween is this hugely popular musical, again under Stuart Gordon’s skillful direction, and based on his horror film, Re-Animator. It’s hard to imagine this latest incarnation as a step up on its stage predecessor, but in a way it is. Added are a few tantalizing surprises, but nothing is lost, and it’s still the robustly hysterical slash-and-splash spectacle that theater-goers have raved about.

For the uninitiated, it’s based on stories by H.P. Lovecraft, (book by Dennis Paoli, Stuart Gordon and William Norris, with music and lyrics by Mark Nutter), and follows the blood-spattered misadventures of med student Herbert West (Graham Skipper), who has discovered a way of “reanimating,” the dead, via a serum. This discovery puts him at odds with a scurrilous, ambitious professor (Jesse Merlin).

Joining West in his pursuit of scientific immortality is fellow student Dean Cain (Darren Ritchie), which adds to the fun and mayhem. Gordon marshals the cast and all the attendant theatrics with precision and gore, to maximum effect.

As newcomers to the production, Ritchie and his love interest Jessica Howell are a ticklish duo. A big part of the fun in this show (other than the cascading fluids and hemorrhaging body parts) is Nutter’s music and lyrics, which are not only drop-dead funny, but written with uncanny exactness.

As usual, the first two or three rows are designated splatter zones, but ponchos are provided.

Trepany House at the Steve Allen Theater, 4773 Hollywood Blvd.; Hlwyd.; Fri.-Sun., 8 p.m.; through Nov. 23. (800) 595-4849, www.trepanyhouse.org