"THRILLER," ODYSSEY DANCE THEATRE, Kingsbury Hall, Oct. 23, through Oct. 31 (355-2787).
Add Kingsbury Hall to the list of haunted houses that have invaded the Wasatch Front this Halloween season. The Odyssey Dance Theatre's ghouls are having a party, and audiences know it as the Orem-based troupe's annual showcase, "Thriller."
This year's production has a lot of promise. From the get-go, the kinetic energy can be felt as audience members file to their seats, followed by zombies who limp about the aisles. And once the lights go out, there is no turning back.
The opening zombie-stomp of the evening's title selection makes way for the evening's emcee, Beetlejuice (Keith Weirich). His antics are hilarious at times, gross at others, but always over-the-top. In fact, it would be nice to have less "juice" in some places; the first half of the evening went about 1 1/2 hours, and the character was seen only a couple of times in the second act.
Wednesday night, the dancers gave the audience its bones' worth. With a snickering pas de deux between Quasimodo and a gargoyle during "Just a Hunch," and another touching and humorous moment with "Frankenstein & Frankenstein," there are tender moments galore.
There are a lot of laughs, as well. The "Jason Jam" has a trio of everyone's favorite hockey-masked slasher flipping out with screwdrivers, machetes and chainsaws.
Four song-and-dance numbers — including a duet with Lorena Bobbitt (Jenny Jordan-Frogley) and Beetlejuice, a Bobbitt solo and two Giggle Girl works (Emily Hayes-Perucca) — did get the audience laughing, and the Bobbitt pieces are done tastefully, given the character.
However, the "Curse of the Mummy" segment was a bit, um, lifeless on Wednesday. The wrapped ones just seemed to be going through the motions. That was a contrast to the tapping tibiae in the black-lighted visuals of "Dem Bones."
And "The Lost Boys," a gory vampire piece, might have been funny if the victim had turned out to be Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
One of the more insensitive works is "River of Blood Dance." It's highlighted by some nice patterned visuals and a funny Michael Flatley impersonation (by Junior Case), but Irish step dancers getting picked off by a sniper is rather tasteless, considering current events in the D.C. area. Still, the audience did laugh.
E-MAIL: scott@desnews.com