By Donald H. Harrison
SAN DIEGO–At one point in Zombie Prom, students and a certain undead former student are protesting the commandment from Delilah Strict (Meredith Russo), the principal at Enrico Fermi High School, that no Zombies be permitted at the school prom. “Let my people glow!” urged the Zombie’s picket sign.
The 1993 musical comedy, written by John Dempsey with music by Dana P. Rowe, looks back somewhat anachronistically at the 1950s Cold War days when schools regularly conducted “duck- and-cover” nuclear attack drills. Its songs are parodies of such 1960’s standards as the Shangri-Las’ “The Leader of the Pack.” Instead of riding in on a motorcycle, Jonny (Michael Parrott), a boy from the other side of the tracks, demonstrates his bad boy-ness by refusing to spell his first name with an “h” before the two “‘n’s.” This enrages Miss Strict, whose watchwords are “Rules, Regulations and Respect.”
After the parents of his newly-won girlfriend Toffee (Katerli Crail) force her to break up with him, Jonny commits suicide by throwing himself into some nuclear sludge. Toffee plunges into deep mourning, despite the efforts of her girlfriends Candy (Samantha Canela), Coco (Jazely Genovese) and Ginger (Hayley O’Toole) and their prom dates Jake (David Gregory), Joey (Kelsey Martinez) and Josh (Alex Pannullo) to cheer her up.
However, with his face decaying and green, Jonny is drawn from his burial place at the bottom of the ocean and is mysteriously transported back to the high school by the force of Toffee’s love. Miss Strict–who has some terrible memories of her own high school years — refuses to allow him to re-enroll. When the graduating seniors protest her decision, she terminates cheerleading, team sports, and even threatens to cancel (gasp!) the senior prom.
Beneath all the farce and frolic, the play does raise some serious issues, albeit very lightly. The character Eddie Flagrante (Michael Van Allen), owner of Expose Magazine, contends that the exclusion from high school of Jonny the Zombie is a serious Civil Rights issue. And the “Let My People Glow” picket sign pun on Moses’ demand to Pharaoh may bring to Scripture-loving minds the injunction in the Book of Exodus against oppressing strangers, for we (Jews) were ourselves once strangers in Egypt.
As an aside, it might also be noted that in Leviticus, descendants of Aaron the High Priest (the Cohens) are commanded to keep themselves pure and to avoid ritual defilement by coming into contact with a corpse. So it’s a matter of Jewish interest that if a Zombie were permitted to attend a senior prom, an observant Cohen would have to excuse himself. However, no Cohens are among the characters in the play — so, whew, that problem was averted.
Unlike some other children’s theatre groups in town, Pickwick Players has young and adult actors perform together. Under this arrangement the youngsters typically are able to interact with more seasoned performers. Sometimes adults just starting out in community theatre perform in these productions, and in those cases, the juvenile actors might serve as their mentors.
In the May 10 opening night presentation of Zombie Prom, the interactions among juvenile and adult actors were generally polished. However, there were some first night problems. The air conditioning at the Moxie Theatre venue at 6663 El Cajon Boulevard went out, and fans had to be set up in advance of curtain time to cool the audience. Free bottles of water were graciously distributed. A high-backed folding canvas chair refused to snap in place, and the actor it was intended for (Michael Parrott) wisely decided to stand beside it. Also, the “Radioactives,” the band consisting of Michael Farley, Fred Allee and Tim Cook, had far too much amplification, occasionally drowning out the young singing voices on the stage.
Nevertheless, director Thomas Fitzpatrick, musical director Michael Farley and choreographer Alisa Williams can take pride in the energetic, fully engaging production that will continue its run through May 19.
Meredith Russo, as the school principal, had wonderful comedic timing, while co-stars Katerli Crail and Michael Parrott as Toffee and Jonny had an earnestness and presence about them that overcame the fact that they now and then were required to strain their voices to be heard over the music. Of the girlfriends and boyfriends, special mention goes to Alex Pannullo and Hayley O’Toole for their depictions of the nerd couple Josh and Ginger. I got the feeling that their characters might grow up someday to become regulars on the Big Bang Theory TV series.
My grandson, Shor, 12, who accompanied me, had one specific complaint. Having seen some of the trailers for Zombie movies that populate television today, he told me that the make-up job on Jonny the Zombie wasn’t nearly ghastly enough. After being dead for three weeks, Shor wanted to know, wouldn’t a Zombie look a lot worse than the character did? He offered some highly imaginative and graphic details of what he meant, but I think I’ll spare my readers the gory description lest they be reading this story over breakfast.
Ticket information about Pickwick Players productions may be obtained by calling (619)448-5673 or via the website www.PickwickPlayers.net.
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Harrison is editor of San Diego Jewish World. He may be contacted at donald.harrison@sdjewishworld.com