Reviews
[Review] “Grey House” Brings a Genuinely Terrifying Cabin in the Woods Tale to Broadway
Tatiana Maslany, Laurie Metcalf, and Paul Sparks star in ‘Grey House,’ a scary, psychological play that turns Broadway into a haunted house of horrors.
“I’ve seen this movie. We don’t make it…”
Horror is a popular genre for many reasons, but at the end of the day there is just nothing like the genuine experience of being afraid. Horror films do their best to immerse their audience in terror with no reprieve, yet there are inherent limitations to this storytelling medium. There’s still screen, and therefore safety, between the audience and their fears. Live theater, especially those on Broadway, live and die through their ability to not just keep audiences entertained, but to truly believe in the spectacle before them. Horror on Broadway is therefore a deeply appealing combination, albeit one that’s all-too rare because of the difficulty in its execution.
There’s The Crucible, The Elephant Man, Bug, and even horror-adjacent musical experiences like Sweeney Todd and Jekyll & Hyde, as well as musicals that ambitiously adapt movies like Beetlejuice, Carrie, Young Frankenstein and The Evil Dead. Arguably, none of these are true horror that leave audiences shuddering and gasping instead of humming to the curtain call. They’re spooky, not scary, no matter how much blood gets spilled on the stage. It’s difficult to translate this into the cold sweats and tightened fists that come out of fear. A horror movie’s scares can be pacified or strengthened through its editing and other cinematic tools that would seemingly be impossible to replicate in theater. Grey House isn’t perfect, but it expertly pulls off this tall task as it makes its audience believe and fear this visceral piece of theater.
Grey House kicks off in a manner that’s all-too familiar and almost painfully self-aware. Max (Tatiana Maslany) and Henry (Paul Sparks), a young couple, hit a deer with their car and find refuge in a nearby cabin wherein they hope that Henry can heal his broken ankle and that they’re able to quickly get back on track with their trip. It’s not long until Henry and Max meet the unconventional occupants of this cabin–and whatever else lurks within its walls–and accept the fact that they’re at the mercy of this freaky “family.”
Led (although that’s putting it loosely) by Laurie Metcalf’s Raleigh, this ornery matriarch herds in the chaos that comes in the form of five children, Marlow (Sophia Anna Caruso), Bernie (Millicent Simmonds), Squirrel (Colby Kipnes), A1656 (Alyssa Emily Marvin) and The Boy (Eamon Patrick O’Connell). All of the adults here shine and this claustrophobic story provides plenty of opportunities for tense showdowns to take place between every combination of Metcalf, Maslany, and Sparks. That being said, it’s the children that are the real stars in Grey House. The group collectively function like a haunted Greek chorus that inexplicably shifts into sporadic songs and telekinetic displays of sisterhood. Each of these children contribute a different vibe to Grey House’s atmosphere and at their best there are shades of Ils, The Orphanage, or even Children of the Corn. Marlow in particular feels like if Wednesday Addams or Lydia Deetz spent a year abroad in Twin Peaks’ Black Lodge.
Photo Credit: MurphyMade
Grey House is a play that assumes that its audience is savvy towards the various tropes that define horror and leans into them with gleeful intensity. There are strong jump scares and moments when the stage descends into complete darkness, but these almost feel like a test run for the more aggressive and psychological horrors that sneak up on the audience and push them to question what they’re seeing. These raw attacks that get under the audience’s skin are more important than logic here. The audience is increasingly on edge and unable to let themselves relax over the anomalies that begin to crack the nature of reality.
Scott Pask’s impeccable set design actively intensifies several of Grey House’s scares. At first glance, this is just a run of the mill cabin, but it begins to feel like a living, breathing entity that transforms along with the characters. It’s simultaneously cozy and carnivorous. There are glimpses of the aforementioned Bug once Grey House dips its toe into more paranoid material. However, the closest analogue here–both thematically and in terms of horror–are the works of David Lynch. Grey House prefers not to spoon feed its audience and its story is very much about the confrontation of past demons and how they can manifest into actual people, not unlike Lost Highway. Grey House is one big psychogenic fugue state where Max and Henry accept life’s uncertainties and make peace with this chaos.
If nothing else, there’s a moment that makes the audience feel like they’re in the train car during Laura Palmer’s murder in Twin Peaks, which is really as frightening and psychically traumatic as it gets. Not everything in Grey House works, and like most fugue states there are moments of repetition to better solidify the work’s themes, but this grandiose nightmare moment makes the experience worth it. Much like Pask’s set design, Natasha Katz’s lighting design and Tom Gibbons’ sound design are the other secret weapons to this production. Sonic dissonance blasts and rattles the audience. Directed by Joe Mantello and written by Levi Holloway, it should be incredibly interesting to see what this creative team tackles next and whether it’s an evolution of these ideas or something completely contrary.
Grey House tells a story that’s intentionally cryptic and symbolically dense. This may leave some audiences unsatisfied, but it fosters a natural need to discuss and dissect what’s been seen the moment that audiences funnel out of the theater. This is what the very best horror stories trigger and The Grey House is almost as much fun to deconstruct post-mortem as it is to get lost in its free-roaming darkness throughout its hour-and-forty-minutes runtime. Grey House still lacks the gravitas and scope of some of the best horror movies, but it’s far and away the scariest thing that’s currently on Broadway and guaranteed to please and scare horror and theater fans alike.
‘Grey House’ is currently in production at Broadway’s Lyceum Theatre.
Reviews
‘Clue: A New Comedy’ Stage Play Is a Slapstick Slasher That Lovingly Adapts Hasbro’s Board Game
The national tour of ‘Clue: A New Comedy’ remixes the classic murder mystery with farcical physical comedy and impassioned old-fashioned sensibilities.
“It’s all part of the game.”
There’s a strong relationship between mischievous murder mysteries and the horror genre. Murder mysteries inherently hinge upon death – it’s baked into the name – so it’s not surprising that horror has embraced this secretive subgenre and really emphasized the murder in murder mysteries. Murder mysteries have been popular in pop culture for nearly a century. However, there’s been a recent renaissance on this front with playful films like Knives Out, A Haunting in Venice, Bodies Bodies Bodies, the Scream franchise, and the prominence of the true-crime genre and armchair detectives. That being said, an underrated and evergreen source of murder mystery hijinks that’s entertained audiences for 75 years is Hasbro and Parker Brothers’ Clue.
Clue has experienced many permutations over the years, including Jonathan Lynn’s 1985 cult classic film and several stage adaptations. In a new dawn where board game and toy IP are at an all-time high, a new stage adaptation of Clue has been put together by Sandy Rustin, with additional material by Hunter Foster and Eric Price, and directed by Casey Hushion. Hushion’s Clue: A New Comedy, which is in the middle of a national tour, effortlessly harkens back to vaudevillian silliness and broad laughs, while it simultaneously explores darker genre impulses and intrigue. It’s the perfect way to nostalgically celebrate the ’80s movie, but also remind audiences why Hasbro’s upcoming cinematic remake is long overdue.
Hushion’s Clue is an adaptation of Lynn’s ‘85 film, but it still brings many original ideas and revisions to the table so that this doesn’t just feel like a stripped down version of the movie. Clue: A New Comedy finds immense pleasure in how it translates the game’s rules so that it functions as a faithful adaptation of the game and the feature film, while it also becomes a fun, fresh entity that’s a living hybrid of both. In Clue: A New Comedy, blackmail functions as the story’s central mystery, just as it does in the board game and cinematic adaptation. Each color-coded houseguest has terrible secrets that they don’t want getting out, which becomes the impetus for the growing body count.
Clue is a comedic character study and this stage play presents well-defined individuals who are easy to identify and connect with, despite their one-dimensional nature. Mr. Green (John Shartzer) is the cast’s real standout, but there’s not a single weak link among Clue’s eight central players. Clue’s best moments are the ones when the whole cast gets to bounce off of each other and revel in the group’s chaotic energy. The play’s ‘50s McCarthyism setting also adds an extra layer of mistrust, paranoia, and subterfuge to the equation that still feels timely in its own way. Farcical, broad wordplay – especially from John Treacy Egan’s Colonel Mustard – are a delight and reminiscent of an old-fashioned radio play when it comes to Clue’s jokes, timing, and dialogue.
Beyond Clue’s script lies some exceptional physical comedy, particularly from Shartzer’s Mr. Green. There are broad group reactions that play out in unison for mass comic effect, as well as lighting cues that brilliantly accentuate punchlines and become a solid running gag throughout the 90-minute show. There are playful movement exercises that are expertly choreographed and verge on interpretative dance. Clue adopts a real Scooby-Doo energy to the production, especially when it comes to its scene transitions. Clue even indulges in a “multiple door chase sequence” that taps into the right energy for this degree of slapstick. To this point, there’s an absolutely brilliant slow motion sequence that’s a highlight of the show and adeptly incorporated.
Clue’s characters are its secret weapon, but stellar production elements help elevate the stage play to something truly special. There’s really powerful set design by Lee Savage that evokes a creepy, cozy Haunted Mansion aesthetic that’s the right atmosphere for this murder mystery tale. Clever design decisions result in rotating walls and rooms that economically get the most out of the stage’s environment. Clumsy execution of these elements would quickly sink Clue and ruin its crescendoing quality. They’re seamlessly handled, as are Ryan O’Gara’s evocative lighting design and Michael Holland’s jauntily creepy musical cues. All these elements work together to make sure that Clue is as visually entertaining as it is well-acted and written.
Clue: A New Comedy goes all-in on its laughs. That being said, the play’s death scenes are actually creepy and immaculately orchestrated with all the finesse of peak genre cinema. There are genuine slasher vibes present that pulse through the show’s pervasive slapstick silliness. It’s a testament to the sheer artistry of craft in Clue that both of these extremes work as well as they do. Clue also shrewdly embraces the infamous multiple ending angle that helped give Lynn’s feature film a smart extra meta layer to its storytelling. It’s fun, different, and takes advantage of the medium of theater to great effect. It’s also the satisfying culmination of a story that gets progressively manic, unhinged, and verges on collapsing in on itself by the end – but in the best way possible. Clue pushes boundaries with tone and control like an expert puppet master.
Clue: A New Comedy hits all the right notes and succeeds as a breezy piece of theater that celebrates whodunit hijinks, broad buffoonery, and wicked wit. It’s Agatha Christie meets Frasier. Clue is a show that definitely prioritizes comedy over horror and suspense, but there’s enough style in this production to properly sell the production’s more evil impulses. It’s unlikely that anyone will be genuinely frightened, yet the play will still keep audiences on the edge of their seats and eagerly anticipate who’s responsible for Boddy Mansion’s copious corpses. Clue: A New Comedy is the best way to experience the Hasbro and Parker Brothers classic before its next cinematic adaptation proves that murder and mayhem aren’t just a game anymore.
Go to Broadway.org to see if ‘Clue: A New Comedy’ will be coming to your area.
Photo by Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade
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