REVIEW: This fall in Calgary, musicals are doing the monster mash
iPhoto caption: 'Little Elves.' Photo by Sacha Crow.
It’s a spectacular time to be a horror and musical-theatre fanatic over here in Calgary since there have been not one, not two, but three Halloween-themed musicals on stage this fall. As a lover of all things dark ‘n’ disturbing, I couldn’t wait to sink my fangs into the pair of spooky productions that are playing into November.
First I caught a matinee of Evil Dead The Musical, a co-production between Alberta Theatre Projects (ATP) and Regina’s Globe Theatre that promises “blood, jokes, cheesy effects, and unforgettable musical numbers.”
I haven’t seen the original 1981 Sam Raimi film the musical is based on, but playwright George Reinblatt’s stage version follows a gang of college kids who have rented out (OK, broken into) a presumed-to-be-abandoned cabin in the woods. Well, turns out it’s infested with otherworldly demons bent on terrorizing the mortal plane and stealing as many souls as they can along the way.
On its promise of carnage, this production categorically delivers. There’s so much blood and guts that the musical is known for offering a customary audience “splatter zone,” which ATP achieves through plastic-wrapped seats on the Martha Cohen stage. Gory images range from gashes and stabbings to full displays of dismemberment (IYKYK). Through clever use of practical effects and a whole lotta blood packs, these sequences both satirize and pay homage to the campiness of cult-classic horror films. It’s gross, cheesy, and so fun.
Director Jennifer Brewin, artistic director of the Globe, dishes a tight aesthetic and tonal vision where nothing is sacred and characters’ self-awareness is apparent with every wink-wink and nudge-nudge line. A remark from Sierra Haynes’ Cheryl epitomizes the biting metatextuality underpinning the musical. After hearing a suspicious sound in the woods, she tells us she’ll do what her mom always told her: “Not wake the others, and go investigate alone.”
Each member of Brewin’s ensemble is effective on the levels of physical comedy and vocal ability, but the direction and the script’s commitment to irony began to chip at my capacity for narrative investment; it’s hard to fully buy into a character’s story when they don’t seem bought in themselves.
The thing is that this Canadian-composed and -penned musical has a thin plot by design. And with storyline on the back burner, gruesome spectacle, familiar tropes, and humour dominate the playing field and make way for hilarious bits like Brianna Johnston’s over-the-top telekinetic fight choreography and a tango duet between Ash (Mark Sinongco) and Scott (Caulin Moore) in my personal favourite track, “What The Fuck Was That?” (Spoiler: It was demons.)
All in all, Evil Dead The Musical is a delightful bloodbath and, what it lacks in dramaturgical acuity, it makes up for in laughs and campy nostalgia.
Next on the Halloween musical docket was Little Elves — a world premiere from Chromatic Theatre and Handsome Alice Theatre. After the riot that was Chromatic’s co-production of comedy musical Hucksterland at the 2026 High Performance Rodeo, I was curious to see its approach to what seemed to be, based on the synopsis, a more serious work.
Like Evil Dead, Little Elves is an adaptation, but instead of targeting a beloved horror franchise, this musical is a Halloween-flavoured retelling of the little-known Christmas folktale “St. Nicholas and the Evil Butcher.” Through a Hadestown-esque opening blues number, we’re told that everything we’ve known about the origins of Christmas is a lie. The gritty truth of the holiday is revealed to have begun with three elves who, while wandering a neighbouring human town, find themselves at the mercy of an elf-hungry butcher. Though the pointy-eared trio, um… take care of their captor, they must now rewrite the narrative to evade persecution and free fellow elves from generations of oppression.
In a post-referendum Alberta, it’s clear how this play’s themes fit within our current context and, after the thematically spartan Evil Dead, I found the clear political messaging of Kodie Rollan’s book refreshing. The first act serves more as an extended thesis outline than a vehicle for plot and it’s here that Rollan and composer-lyricist Alixandra Cowman lay out the opposing arguments of the elves’ fight against human (read: white) supremacy. Older elf Colette (Selina Wong) upholds a non-violent approach to racial equality, while the younger Toni (Safia Comtois-Mohamad) maintains that fighting eye-for-an-eye is the only true path to justice. Though this production ultimately frames one of the tactics as most effective in its resolution, the prioritization of nuance in the age-old argument is potent nonetheless.
It’s the end of Act One where the elves’ bated breath mutates into murderous schemes and the production starts to burn rubber. The quartet of actors (supported by a live three-piece band) navigate the tonally heavy script with dexterity, confidently pivoting between vocally demanding songs and emotionally demanding dialogue thanks to Rollan and Jenna Rodgers’ skilled direction. Wong — last seen in Theatre Calgary’s The Tale of the Gifted Prince — stunned me with her tearful exhibition of hope in the penultimate song “Two Different Roads.”
Fluctuating between jazz, folk, and country influences, Cowman’s compositions are fun to listen to and remarkably polished; this score would fit seamlessly among Broadway contemporaries, particularly with standout tracks like “Tightest Wire” that showcased brilliant crisp three-part harmonies and a rock edge.
Though intense in content and subject matter (heed the site’s warnings, people!), Little Elves is an impressive undertaking by Calgary artists demonstrating equal parts creative skill and unwavering spirit.
Little Elves runs at the Pumphouse Theatre until November 7. More information is available here. Evil Dead The Musical runs at Alberta Theatre Projects until November 14. More information is available here.
Eve Beauchamp wrote this review as part of Page Turn, a professional development network for emerging arts writers, funded by the Canada Council for the Arts and administered by Neworld Theatre.
Intermission reviews are independent and unrelated to Intermission’s partnered content. Learn more about Intermission’s partnership model here.
Eve Beauchamp
Eve Beauchamp (they/them) is an award-winning Calgary-based theatre artist, playwright, and graduate of the BFA in Acting at the University of Ottawa. They are the co-artistic director of Levity Theatre Company and primarily create work that explores queerness, capitalism, and neurodivergence through humour, poetry, and storytelling. Currently, you can find them pursuing their Master of Fine Arts in Drama at the University of Calgary.
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