By Popular Demand
Re-Animator™ – The Musical
Extended AGAIN Through Sunday, August 14, 2011
At the Steve Allen Theater in Hollywood

Special Midnight Madness Fridays 6/24, 7/1 & 7/8

“Bloody hilarious.” – Terry Morgan, LAist.com
“Terribly inappropriate … it’s glorious!” – Anthony Byrnes, KCRW

LOS ANGELES, CA – Re-Animator™ – The Musical, the horror-comedy based on the 1985 cult movie hit and earlier H.P. Lovecraft story, has extended its run due to popular demand through Sunday, August 14, 2011 at the Steve Allen Theater.  The new performance schedule for this funny, bloody and tuneful production includes three shows per weekend:  Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays at 8:00pm.  Additionally, the production that refuses to die will hold three special Midnight Madness shows with opening bands on Friday, June 24th, Friday, July 1st, and Friday, July 8th. Midnight Madness shows cost $15 and doors open at 10:45pm for the all ages preshow. Bands to be announced on the Re-Animator site. Ticket prices for 8:00pm shows are $30 for general admission, $15 for students (with ID) as well as all Center for Inquiry members.  The Steve Allen Theater is located at 4773 Hollywood Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90027.  For theater information please call 323-666-4268 or visit http://steveallentheater.com.  For ticket purchases only please call 800-595-4849.  For more information on the musical please visit http://www.re-animatorthemusical.com.  Online tickets can be purchased through the Re-Animator or venue web sites.

The production has been setting records and sending grinning patrons out of the theater humming the tunes and washing off blood.  Stuart Gordon, who directed both the new musical and the movie on which it is based, notes “There’s a lot of liquid spurting through the air. The special effects are even better in 4D than they are in 3D.”  Costumes are encouraged and seating is open – come early and sit up front in the “splash zone.”

According to his letters, Lovecraft wrote the original story as a parody of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Re-Animator – The Musical is the story of brilliant yet amoral medical student Herbert West whose discovery, a bright green glowing serum, can actually revive the dead. He involves fellow student Dan Cain and his fiancée Megan Halsey in his research by murdering and then re-animating their cat. Cain, realizing the enormous potential of West’s research, agrees to smuggle him into the hospital morgue, which results in an orgy of bloody mayhem.

Those special effects are being delivered by the same folks who executed them for the 1985 movie: Tony Doublin, John Naulin, and John Beuchler. The blood flows so freely that the first few rows are designated as the “splash zone.” Laura Fine Hawkes, who last designed the equally bloody Lieutenant of Inishmore at the Taper, provides the creepy sets, Joe Kucharski the moldering costumes, and Jeff Ravitz the cadaverous lighting. Stage managing the madness is the unflappable Joe Begos.  Steve Pope helms the Technical Direction.

The cast includes Jesse Merlin, Rachel Avery, Chris L. McKenna, Harry S. Murphy, Mark Beltzman, Cynthia Carle, Brian Gillespie, Liesel Hanson, and Graham Skipper as Herbert West.

Music and lyrics by Mark Nutter. Libretto by Dennis Paoli, Stuart Gordon and William J. Norris. Adapted from the story by H.P. Lovecraft. Based on the film H.P. Lovecraft’s Re-Animator produced by Brian Yuzna . Play produced by Dean Schramm and Stuart Gordon
. Directed by Stuart Gordon. Musical director: Peter Adams. Choreography by Cynthia Carle.

“Mark Nutter’s songs are absolutely inspired,” says Gordon, “They are dark, twisted and yet also insanely cheerful at the same time.”

Stuart Gordon (Director/Producer/Co-Librettist) –
“Re-Animator” has become Gordon’s middle name since the film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival and won a Critics’ Prize in 1985. The legendary horror film has also spawned comic books, video games, sequels, and fan fiction. Previously, as Artistic Director of Chicago’s Organic Theater Company, Gordon had the opportunity to work directly with Ray Bradbury, Roald Dahl, and Kurt Vonnegut, adapting their stories to stage.  He also collaborated with David Mamet, directing and producing the world premiere of Sexual Perversity in Chicago.  Gordon is a big fan of Lovecraft and has adapted several of his stories for the screen. They include not only Re-Animator, but also From Beyond, Castle Freak (from The Outsider), and Dagon, as well as the Masters of Horror episode “Dreams in the Witch-House.” Additional directing credits include Dolls, Robot Jox, Pit and the Pendulum, Fortress, Space Truckers, The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit, King of Ants, Edmond, and Stuck.  Gordon created the Disney blockbuster Honey I Shrunk the Kids.  He also executive produced its sequel, Honey I Blew Up the Kid.  With his writing partner Paoli, he wrote Body Snatchers, and The Dentist.  He lives in Los Angeles with his actress wife Carolyn Purdy-Gordon (who he murders in his films whenever possible) and three daughters.