As I said earlier, this show was better than I had expected. I guess I'll write up a little review of the debut show.
First, here is a picture of the set. Unlike the park's main season shows, Eternal Jamnation had a decent set.
[instagram=http://instagram.com/p/tbgCrhEQDY/]
So here it goes. If you don't want this show to be spoiled, I don't recommend reading this.
The show takes place in a graveyard. The show starts and the whole theater goes dark. The lights on the stage slowly fade back up, and we are introduced to a witch who has climbed onto the center structure. Another witch emerges from the shadows, and the two begin to argue. The first witch is bored with her life in the graveyard and wants a human to play with, while the other witch thinks humans are dangerous and she should stay away from them. The first witch ignores her friend's warnings and summons other "creatures of the night" into the graveyard, where she says they will go into the night, leading them into the opening song "Shadows of the Night."
About halfway through "Shadows of the Night," the witch takes her dancing into the aisles. At the end of the song, she goes searching for a human to "possess." She picks one, who is really just another performer in normal day clothes, and "possesses" him to do whatever she wants him to do. The two perform a little duet as she brings him onto the stage, where he joins the "creatures of the night" in the graveyard.
The head witch and the other female cast members flock toward him in delight, as he sings "Lay Your Hands On Me" and eventually the whole cast gets into the song, with the human still possessed and going along with it.
After the song, a vampire character emerges and is angry at the witch, believing the human is a threat to their kind. He proceeds to show how evil he and the other creatures of the graveyard are, singing "Radioactive." The witch rebels, and she and the human sing "We're Not Gonna Take It" to the Vampire.
Furious, the Vampire summons the creatures away, off-stage. Just as the lead witch is being pulled away, the human grabs her and says she can't leave, because he wants to be with her. They fall in love (so we think!), and the two kiss. As they are kissing, the human pulls out a dagger and stabs the witch in the back, killing her.
The Vampire emerges again and is furious at what the human has done. He uses some sort of Vampire power to bring the witch back to life, where all of the creatures of the graveyard capture the human and chain him to a tombstone. The push him down, behind the stone, and there is a blast of fog and red light. The human emerges from the fog, bloody and wearing torn black clothing like the rest of the creatures, signifying that the creatures killed him and took him to the "dark side. There is a final number with the creatures of the graveyard, and the head witch says next time they bring someone to the shadows of the night, it'll be you. They all laugh manically and flee up the aisles of the theater in a series of flashing light. And that's how the show ends.
So how was the show? It was far better than Edge of Darkness and KD40 On Stage, for sure. I honestly quite liked it, as did my dad who is typically very critical of the shows (for reference, he absolutely HATED KD40 On Stage). The singing talent was phenomenal, unlike KD40 which had some performers who were downright pitchy. The sound system for the vampire seemed a bit off, but that should be a technical issue that can be easily addressed. I do agree with mwhinva's statement that the sound-mixing needs to be fixed now.
The cast also had a few performers from past KD shows. The human used to be in KD40 On Stage, On Broadway, and shows at BGW. One of the male performers (not the vampire) was in KD40 and On Broadway, as was one of the female performers as I recognized as Amy from a plethora of other KD shows.
I was surprised at how this show had a plot. While the story may sound complicated in the review, it really wasn't. To put into context, this show was about as show-driven as Fiends. It was a simple plot (as opposed to LR) but drove the along and kept things moving swiftly. There was some dialogue, but it wasn't overly cheesy like in some other shows. All-in-all it was a music show still that was driven forward by a discernible plot. The plot really kept things going, as the transitions were so smooth there really was no break in the action. In fact, I didn't even get the chance to clap until the show was over.
What I really liked about this show, is that it didn't pretend to be something it wasn't. Shows at both BGW and KD, for main season and Halloween shows, often come off seeming like "wannabe" Broadway shows. They try to be something that they can't be in a theme park. Eternal Jamnation didn't do that. It told a story and told parts of it through song. There weren't any flashy dance numbers, goofy jokes, or wild special effects. The biggest example of how the show didn't try to be a big-shot is that there was no point at the end where the actors stood, bowed, took in applause, or anything like that. They fled the theater and the show ended, just like that, without any final flashy pose or anything. It told a story through music, and did a darn fine job at it too. Sometimes simplicity* is elegant. *Not a Fiends reference.
So, overall, it was a fairly simple show that had a big effect. It provided great talent and more importantly a much-needed break from the over-the-top productions that seem to have become the norm at the Virginia theme parks. I will definitely be back to see this show again, and I would actually recommend it to anyone else going to Haunt this season.
Looks like KD has finally figured out what they want with their big Haunt production.