Saw, The Musical: The Unauthorized Parody of Saw is a significant win for the queer horror loving community. The creative forces behind it have taken this very hetero normative film series and created a filthy, tuneful gay romance out of it. Concentrating on the first entry’s easily producible setting and the chemistry exhibited between Cary Elwes and Leigh Whannell there, playwright Zoe Ann Jordan has devised a super silly show containing a filthily erotic romance between Dr. Lawrence Gordon and his fellow captive Adam. The lyrics & music by Anthony DeAngelis and Patrick Spencer, meanwhile, perfectly echo Jordan’s outrageously constructed scenarios. Thus, amid the male leads’ lustful duets, brilliantly fun songs such as Just a Pig (in a Fucking Wig) are also offered up.
While this Chicago cast of the National Tour is headlined by Blake Friedman, a talented and very game opera singer, as Gordon and the squeakily enthusiastic Anthony Chavers as Adam, special attention must be paid to the divine Janey Elliot. Elliot superbly portrays everyone else in the cast, with a special emphasis on Jigsaw himself and the franchise’s runaway character, the tortured and troubled Amanda.
Indeed, while most of the show is played for laughs, Elliot and the rest of the team often find the emotional heart in Amanda, offering up a plethora of poignant moments and a couple of emotionally effective power ballads. Thus, amidst the expected blood and purebred giggling, we get the essence of what draws us to these stories and themes – the beating, eternally bruised heart of those who find themselves forever just a bit outside the mainstream crowd.
More information on the production, which heads out of Chicago on 8/11/24 for the next spot in its tour, can be found at http://www.sawthemusical.com.
Until the next time, SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan
Big Gay Horror Fan 