Jigsaw

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

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Tobin 1

Men, women, renowned, unknown, rich, poor…Tobin Bell’s legendary Jigsaw in the popular Saw series chose his victims without prejudice.

Tobin Bell, Jigsaw’s acclaimed portrayer, is bringing that same undiscriminating nature to his current role of the murderously misguided Yo Ling, the father of longstanding hero John (Drake Hogestyn), on the Gothic, crime tinged soap opera (and my personal favorite) Days of Our Lives. Tobin 3

Suffering from some mysterious illness that is turning his insides to mush, Yo Ling has kidnapped John and his son Paul (Christopher Sean), who just happens to be a homosexual, to provide him with a variety of antidotes. John’s blood will hopefully cure him while Paul’s strength, once the youth is brainwashed, will aid him in his predatory schemes.

Here, working with a quiet and precise calm, Bell perfectly enunciates Yo Ling’s preposterous plans while bringing them an air of credulity and menace that a lesser actor would never have been able to manage. The intense and emotional underplaying of Hogestyn and Sean has also helped to sell this (frequently ludicrous) tale, but patient viewers may ultimately be most glad that Paul, whose double minority status as a gay Asian (along with Sean’s compelling sensitive work) has endeared him to many, has finally been given something substantial to do after months of relative inactivity. Tobin Paul

Meanwhile, terror freaks better hurry to get their taste of danger in the afternoon as Bell is, unfortunately, wrapping up his Days appearances on March 22^nd.

Until the next time…SWEET love and pink GRUE, Big Gay Horror Fan!

Big Gay Horror Fan

All posts tagged Jigsaw

Review: Saw, the Musical: The Unauthorized Parody of Saw

Tobin Bell ‘Saws’ into Days!