‘Romero and Juliet’ puts a zombie spin on Shakespeare
The unintentional invoking of a pun led a Pennsylvania writer to conjure a musical featuring elements familiar to fans of the horror genre, particularly those in Western Pennsylvania.
The musical, which will have two stage readings Saturday, May 17, at St. Vincent College in Latrobe, will also appeal to Shakespeare enthusiasts, particularly those who enjoy “Romeo and Juliet.”
“Romero & Juliet” is the product of Scott Logsdon, who said the musical combines elements of “Romeo & Juliet” with “Night of the Living Dead,” for a campy, 1980s-themed show.
“The zombies hate George Romero because when he made ‘Night of the Living Dead,’ he exposed that zombies were real and exposed them to hatred,” Logsdon said. “Romero falls in love with Juliet, who is a zombie. They are from two warring factions as the kids are in the Shakespeare version.”
Logsdon, his cast of nine actors and the accompanying musicians for the show will have two stage readings May 17 — one at 2 p.m. and another at 7 p.m. — at Carey Performing Arts Center at Saint Vincent College, 300 Fraser Purchase Road, Latrobe. Logsdon said the reading is somewhat of a workshop show, where the actors and crew of the show can get feedback for a potential full production of the musical.
“The actors will be at music stands with scripts and music in front of them. We have a five-piece rock band, the charts are being orchestrated,” Logsdon said.
Michael Marra, a Butler native who plays “Uncle Larry” in the show, said he has worked with Logsdon on projects in the past, but this is the first original script of his that he is acting in.
He added that his character is somewhat of a composite of a character from “Romeo & Juliet” and one from “Night of the Living Dead.”
“I play Uncle Larry, who is an ex-CIA agent and medical doctor. He worked on creating a virus that we would spread,” Marra said.
Logsdon compared the tone of the show to the musical “Little Shop of Horrors,” which he said is campy, but with a level of sincerity to it. Additionally, the show has songs with sounds that harken back to the 1980s, which is the time period where “Romero & Juliet” is set.
“It's got a B-movie aesthetic. There's comedy and also romance and tragedy,” Logsdon said. “We have this wide range of music. They all have a different musical vocabulary.”
Marra said he is excited to see how people react to the stage reading shows, because performances of this type offer potential for interaction and feedback between the audience and the actors. The fact that the musical is a love letter to George Romero and the zombie genre has Marra anticipating seeing how audience members receive some of the references and humor of the show.
“I just think it's a new concept,” Marra said. “To combine craze of zombies with Romeo and Juliet, it's fun to see how it all meshes together.”
For tickets to the May 17 shows, visit splitstage.com.
