Playwright: James Asmus and Andrew Hobgood; Composer: Julie Nichols
At: Annoyance Theatre, 4830 N. Broadway
Phone: 773-561-4665; $15
Through Oct. 26
BY SCOTT C. MORGAN
Call it a clever confluence of Jungian collective cadavers. Just as ABC-TV is readying the new romantic drama Pushing Daisies—about a man who can bring the dead back to life—The Annoyance Theatre is already running its own twisted romantic death show called Love is Dead: A NecRomantic Musical Comedy.
Love is Dead also taps into America's past TV dead sensation Six Feet Under and spoofs multiple forensic-science mystery TV shows. Of course, the Annoyance goes beyond what is acceptable on primetime TV by making the romantic hero of Love is Dead into a necrophiliac.
But for a theater famously known for its hit Co-ed Prison Sluts, the necrophilia isn't a shock at all—it's quite endearing. Love is Dead's talented creators play up its quirky black comedy to the hilt, but they also make you genuinely care about the confused and obsessive oddball characters and their predicaments.
Add the fact that the fun 1980s pop-styled score by composer Julie Nichols and co-lyricists James Asmus and Andrew Hobgood is so enjoyable makes this typical late night show subject matter more than ready for its 8 p.m. prime-time Friday slot.
Everything swirls around the timid mortician Orin ( Asmus, who also makes an affable leading man ) . Abandoned by his parents at an early age, Orin has taken to finding love and companionship with the lively cadavers who start piling up when a mass-murder hits the rural town of Waldorf, Vt.
Lyndsay Hailey is a dancing and belting knockout as the frisky unidentified corpse Jane Doe, while Mort Burke makes for a great surfer dude TK Nichols. TK is the late boyfriend of town newcomer Julie ( Brooke Bagnall ) , who takes Orin by surprise when she ( a living person ) takes a romantic interest in him.
Yet Orin becomes the prime suspect for the string of murders when the forensic geneticist named Dana Strand ( Megan Johns, in a great and coldly calculating performance ) finds all sorts of suspicious DNA remnants in exhumed corpses. Rounding out the troupe are fine comic performances by Nick Vatterott as the immature and not-so-sharp Deputy Don and Daniel Jessup as Sheriff Harvey.
Director/choreographer Hobgood moves things along well comically with his great cast. They're only a bit underpowered now and then when the audiences' laughter covers their zany lyrics. My only other qualm is that some of the transitions could have been a bit smoother on what is essentially a bare stage at the Annoyance.
Love is Dead deserves to have a long run at the Annoyance, especially if Pushing Daisies proves to be a mega-hit for ABC. Though Love is Dead won't easily get mainstream acceptance, it adds to the Annoyance's prestige for presenting skillfully written off-kilter comedies for Chicagoans cool enough to be ahead of pop-culture trends.
