Review: "The Scary" Builds a Stephen King Parody on the Fly

The Scary - Improvised Stephen King

Original concept by Nannette Deasy

Directed by Robert Baumgardner

Presented by IRTE at The Producers Club

358 W. 44th St., Manhattan, NYC

January 31-February 22, 2025

L-R: Natalie Hunter and Evie Aronson. Photo: IRTE
Stephen King has remained a cultural force over the nearly half a century since his debut novel, Carrie, became a bestseller. While a couple of King tropes have aged less well than others, the size and popularity of his corpus offers a lot to draw on for the improvised horror-comedy of The Scary, from IRTE (Improvisational Repertory Theatre Ensemble). Having made its award-winning debut in 2014, The Scary returns, reimagined, for some much-needed comic relief in a 2025 that is shaping up to be pretty scary itself. Taking inspiration from across the King canon, the show's talented cast stirs up buckets of blood-spattered fun.

One doesn't have to be a connoisseur of King esoterica to thoroughly enjoy The Scary, though a passing familiarity with his (oft-adapted) work–which seems pretty likely for anyone who consumes media–probably helps some of the jokes land with more impact. The performance that we attended, which featured performers Tony Bozanich, Nannette Deasy, Natalie Hunter, Sam Katz, and Vikki Martin, began, following an ominous musical cue and a comically small amount of eerie smoke, by having the audience select, via different methods, the show's protagonist and antagonist–in this case, a Single Determined Mother and an Evil Clown–and its setting–in this case (what are the chances?) a small town in Maine. The story that would ultimately bring this hero, here named Gladys (Sam Katz), to her showdown with the villain (Natalie Hunter, channeling the mannerisms of Pennywise in a wig and hat combo that had a touch of Doctor Rockzo to it) started out with its characters in early adolescence–adding humor to, among other elements, Gladys's aspiration to be a mother–before jumping forward in time. Gladys was now, as she wanted to be, a mother, albeit a single one, to the neverending annoyance of her son (Nannette Deasy). As the clown went around trying to turn family members against one another–and worse–and it turned out that Gladys needed a performer for her son's birthday party, we were introduced to a stable of characters ranging from child Johnny (Tony Bozanich), whose father (Vikki Martin) wants him to be a boxer while Johnny prefers dance (or stand-up comedy, or dance-comedy); to uptight, quick with an insult churchgoer Beverly (Vikki Martin); to a Maine-accented librarian (Deasy) who has a hilariously fatal encounter with the killer clown.
L-R: Evie Aronson, Natalie Hunter, Nannette Deasy, Sam Katz, Tony Bozanich, and Vikki Martin. Photo courtesy of IRTE
On the way to a funny where-are-they-now epilogue from the survivors, the audience was treated to a little audience participation, a couple different types of DIY-blood effects, and a lot of plaid. There were also a game show parody featuring Hunter's entertainingly parodic take on King character Bill Hodges and several impressively delivered cover songs courtesy of Martin (that week's featured musical performer, as someone with "The Shine") and her Omnichord. Binding all of these elements, the performances, from Bozanich's deadpan delivery as the mayor, which was a highlight of a town meeting scene (and a fun counterbalance to, for example, the off-kilter energy of Hunter's evil clown) to Katz's self-aware riff on the valiantly resolute single mom, thrived on their sharp-witted, inventive absurdity. As one face of an endlessly protean being, It's evil clown could be seen as a felicitously symbolic choice for the opening weekend of an improv show; and The Scary spins from its myriad spooky possibilities a riotous good time.

-John R. Ziegler and Leah Richards

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Review: "How To Eat an Orange" Cuts into the Life of an Argentine Artist and Activist

Review: The Immersive "American Blues: 5 Short Plays by Tennessee Williams" Takes Audiences on a Marvelously Crafted Journey

Review: From Child Pose to Stand(ing) Up: "Yoga with Jillian" and "Penguin in Your Ear" at the Women in Theatre Festival