By Elazar Abrahams
Madison, Grace, and Stella are best friends and high school seniors gearing up for one last hurrah at prom, eager to attend the dance with their boyfriends. The problem? Their beaus are a f-boy vampire, a ghost with attachment issues, and a newly undead zombie. Not exactly a recipe for being crowned prom queen and king.
Now in performances at the Players Theatre downtown, The Trouble with Dead Boyfriends is a small-scale musical production with a lot of heart, and it deserves to be spotlighted. See it now before its run ends on July 14th for eternal bragging rights.
Dead Boyfriends is laugh out loud funny; the gags never stop coming. But the show is also surprisingly layered, with a message about self-worth and acceptance perfect for high schoolers. The songs too, are polished and layered, with lyrical motif reprisals in all the right moments, and a perfect mix of solo character ballads mixed with ensemble dance numbers. All the while, the show remains hilarious, which is no easy feat.
The cast is excellent as well. Zoe Dean, who stars as Madison, has real star power, and Heather Sawyer gets several key moments to shine as Stella, a girl struggling with body image issues. Will Einbinder and Patrick Voss Davis chop it as the vampire and zombie boyfriends with perfectly campy performances that are just the right level of over-the-top. While his repertoire of side characters are never the center attention, Patrick Swailes Caldwell is an absolute highlight whenever he is on stage.
The show has all the makings of the next cult hit in the vein of Heathers or Be More Chill. It would be a true shame if this is the last we hear of The Trouble with Dead Boyfriends, but I doubt it will be.
Find more information and tickets HERE.
TV and City 