Margie Fishman

The News Journal

Who's the better boyfriend: A zombie or a guy with a pulse who seems brain dead when it comes to women?

At least the zombie will want you for your brains.

That's just one of several life lessons in Bootless Stageworks' "Musical of the Living Dead," which runs July 11 to 19.

A spoof of the 1968 George Romero classic film "Night of the Living Dead," the show is more "theater for the NASCAR set" than highbrow, according to director Rosanne DellAversano. It features music from George Gershwin and Green Day.

"I call it intense, 4D theater," she says. "You look like death by the time it is over."

Staged at the Black Box at OperaDelaware on the Wilmington Riverfront, the show centers on 10 survivors of a recent zombie apocalypse who are trapped in a farmhouse. And they're desperate to escape a bunch of brain-eating, toe-tapping, rapping zombies.

With only four performances, Bootless expects a sold-out crowd even though Halloween is months away. The lead, Ben Blackman (yes, he's African-American) is Sedric Willis from Bear. Willis says he doesn't mind the racial stereotypes peppered throughout the script, since the campy show is not for the easily offended.

Robert Bove of Odessa, who plays the hard-nosed Harry Cooper, said he ate a lot of scrapple to prepare for the half-zombie, half-human role and watched cult horror movies.

"I tried to find a horror movie that matched the stellar impact of 'The Exorcist,' " he says.

The company's hugely popular "Bloody Summer Stage" productions appeal to 24- to 36-year-olds who will gladly pay extra to get splattered. Some wear white dresses and snap gory photos at Wawa after the performance.

The company's "Evil Dead, The Musical," which returns next summer, attracts fans from across the middle Atlantic, says DellAversano. The audience engages in an unscripted call-and-response similar to "The Rocky Horror Picture Show."

DellAversano recalls a woman from Baltimore who gave Bootless a $400 donation to attend one of Evil's sold-out performances for her husband's birthday. The couple was rewarded with extra blood.

"The Texas Chainsaw Musical!" last year was a bit of a disappointment, acknowledges DellAversano. She tried to "creep it out" with the main character wearing a nipple belt, yet it still didn't resonate with the audience.

But "Musical of the Living Dead" promises the messiest Splatter Zone yet. Audience members seated in the first four rows are soaked with a red-tinged water mixture from fire extinguishers, water cannon, and quart-size blood packs worn by the actors.

And don't forget the pus made of corn starch and the brains made of cauliflower mush.

The show was created by school friends Brad Younts and Marc Lewallen who discovered their shared love for zombies, musicals and sketch comedy.

It was performed in Chicago, dumping 20 gallons of "blood" a night, where some critics panned it for an unfocused plot and jokes that were only funny to the intoxicated (Luckily, the show has a built-in drinking game where audience members are told to drink every time Barbra freaks out and is slapped).

Still, readers of the "Chicago Reader" ranked "Living Dead" the best musical in 2012.

Younts explains: "Critics tend to look at it through the prism of 'Oklahoma' or 'Showboat,'" he says. "Our barometer for success is that the audience is having fun and the people on stage are having fun."

The co-writers and co-directors will be in town for a question-and-answer session during the show's opening weekend at Bootless.

This is Bootless' last performance at the Black Box. Next season, the company moves to the hall at St. Stephen's Church near Trolley Square, which seats more people. Two fundraisers are scheduled in November and April to help renovate the space.

Along with bloody entertainment, future plans include a singer-songwriter series and coffee nights.

Contact Margie Fishman at (302) 324-2882 or mfishman@delawareonline.com.

IF YOU GO

WHAT: "Musical of the Living Dead" at Bootless Stageworks

WHEN: July 11-19

WHERE: Black Box at OperaDelaware, 4 S. Poplar St., Wilmington

TICKETS: General admission, $27; splatter zone, $32 (includes VIP entrance, advanced seating and private bar). General admission tickets are on sale for $18 at www.bootless.org.