"THRILLER," ODYSSEY DANCE THEATRE, Kingsbury Hall, Wednesday, additional performances through Nov. 1, 581-7100 or www.kingsburyhall.org

OK, you Halloweeners, rejoice! Odyssey Dance Theatre's beloved dance macabre "Thriller" is back from beyond the grave.

Along with the staple crowd-pleasers such as the rhythmic "Jason Jam," soulful "Curse of the Mummy," the blacklight-tap piece "Dem Bones" and "Frankenstein & Frankenstein" pas de deux, there are a handful of new works that dust off the grave-site dirt and give long-time fans eyefuls of fresh moves.

Artistic director Derryl Yeager's eerie "The Grudge," his and Tristan Gray's ode to Sci-Fi "Mr. Roboto" and the escalating "Sunday in the Park" range from the dark and creepy to the absurdly humorous.

And while those works, especially Gray's break-dance jazz moves in "Mr. Roboto" draw a lot of cheers from the audience, it was the other, more familiar hip-hop-based works — the murderous "Children of the Corn" and the aforementioned "Curse of the Mummy" — that bring the house down.

Vampires appear in the contemporary ballet "Lost Boys" and the whole epic Celtic tap genre is thrown on its ear, or should that be shot down in flames, during the gut-busting "River of Blood Dance."

Witches seduce the audience with "Salem's Mass," and Lorena Bobbitt (performed by singer Mindy Lilyquist) appears more unhinged than ever.

The air was full of anticipation when the show opened Wednesday night. The audience interacted with the show with howls and cheers as roaming zombies startled the audience members in the theater before the houselights dimmed.

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Most who attended Wednesday night's performance enjoyed the thrills and chills as the zombies who menaced the audience members limped on stage and danced in the graveyard.

However, let you be warned: there are some pieces that may be too intense for younger children, and the double-entendre Lorena Bobbitt skits can be a bit crude. There were some young adults in the audience who didn't get the visual puns of Bobbitt holding a nutcracker and hedging sheers.

Still, "Thriller" is a ghoulishly twisted and fun way to enhance the Halloween spirit — or should that be spirits.


E-MAIL: scott@desnews.com

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