The Trouble with Dead Boyfriends

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Once upon a time, three little girls, who grew up together and became best friends, reached high school and the grand adventure of looking for a boyfriend. Each girl has a distinct personality that shapes her view of the romantic and sexual possibilities of their male classmates. As they reach their senior year and the upcoming prom, the urgency of finding a suitable “boyfriend” date for the dance becomes of central importance.

The Trouble with Dead Boyfriends is a musical comedy/horror show about the solution to a prom date issue with the use of “dead” boyfriends. Annie Pulsipher, who wrote the book and lyrics, and Alex Petti, the musical director, who wrote the music, lyrics, and did the orchestration, have created a fast-paced and, at times, funny show that blends the horror of zombies, vampires, and ghosts, into a workable musical comedy. Stephen M. Eckert’s direction effectively balances the comedic aspects of teenage angst with the goriness of paranormal beings.

The show is a deft combination of action and humor with elements of horror. One of the production numbers, “Dissection Dance,” is an homage to the “Time Warp” choreography of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. The name of the high school, George R. Romero High School, invokes the zombie horror films he created. And with the ensemble’s comedic timing, the show delivers an entertaining romp, with a feminist twist, through the psyche of three adolescent girls: Madison, Stella, and Grace. It needs a bigger stage and more actors but it is still an entertaining theatrical experience.

It is their senior year, 2007; the big event is the Senior Prom. All the girls need dates for the dance, and they don’t care how they get them or their condition when they arrive. Madison has a regular boyfriend, but she is not counting him as a date until he formally asks her to go. He accomplishes that task in a very creative way in a biology class. Grace, the studious friend, practices witchcraft, and while learning about casting spells, she invokes a ghost of a boy who was 17 when he died and since she can’t get rid of him, she decides to make him her date. Stella, who behaves as if she has the maturity of a 25-year-old but is still only 18, manages to attract a vampire with decidedly bloody intentions. How the prom comes together and ends up is an adventurous romp through moments of comedy and horror.

Zoe Dean plays Madison as a quintessential cheerleader, full of energy, sure of her good looks, and with a plan for the future, all laid out. She is the driving force behind the goal of all three girls to find their perfect future boyfriend. Dean’s singing voice is solid, but she tends to be pitchy with some songs. Her dream boyfriend is Zachery, played by Patrick Voss Davis, with all the dim-witted perfection of a concussed football star. Midway through the play, he shows his comedic skills by giving “life” to a new character. His portrayal is outstanding and pays tribute to characters from classic horror films.

Stella is a quick-witted, sassy-voiced teenager who uses a cynical view of the world to mask her insecurity about her looks and self-esteem. Heather Sawyer gives a steady, well-focused view of the character as she alternates between Stella being certain of herself and being fearful of that self. Sawyer embodies the vulnerability of the character hiding behind emotional bravado. Her singing is a fully-throated delivery of the feelings behind the lyrics. Her boyfriend Lucian is a vampire straight out of the Twilight movie series. Will Einbinder exudes a punk aesthetic and fully embodies the character of a pickup artist who will lie to get what he wants and doesn’t care about anybody’s feelings.

Finally, there is Grace, an honors student who masks her discomfort of self-reflection behind a shield of intellectualism bordering on nerdiness. Alia Cuadros-Contreras provides a character whose hidden self wants to cast off the cloak of academic perfection and get wild but doesn’t have a clue how to do it and is afraid to ask. Her boyfriend, Silence Mather Thackeray, is a ghost of a 17-year-old boy from a Puritan family. He was killed in 1718 by his father after being caught Footloose in the family barn. Hagan Oliveras gives a credible performance as a 289-year-old ghost who is still every bit of an adolescent.

In the lead-up to the Senior Prom scenes, each important character is revealed in more detail with the help of the talented ensemble. In addition to the actors playing the boyfriends, the ensemble includes Stephanie Hawkins, Patrick Swailes Caldwell, Sophia Carlin, and Jonah McKinley.

The two stand-out performances from this last group are by Hawkins as Smiley Cindy, the student body president, head of the Prom Committee, and office aide, and Caldwell as the 50-year-old Coach Snell, the physical ed teacher, and coach. Their comedic timing with their primary characters is solid, as is their embodiment of the other characters they play. Hawkins is perfect as the somewhat awkward student who teachers love but who cannot relate to her peers. Caldwell is hilarious as Coach Snell, who has just returned from his mandated sensitivity training because of his inappropriate sexual comments around girls.

The production team is an interesting group since they also play multiple roles in the execution of the show. Will Einbinder plays Lucien and is the choreographer. Stephen M. Eckert, the director, did the scenic design, and Alex Petti, in addition to his musical contributions listed above, did the sound design. Only Olivia Vaughn Hern, costume design, and Andres DG Hunt, lighting design, have no other credited role in the production, but each provided solid support.

The Trouble with Dead Boyfriends (through July 16, 2023)

Black Watch Theatre and TWDB LLC

The Players Theatre, 115 MacDougal Street, in Manhattan

For tickets, visit https://web.ovationtix.com/trs/pr/1138742/1685592000000.

Running time: one hour and 50 minutes including one intermission