The Grey House Review: Buzzy Broadway Horror Teases Intrigue In The Shadows

© MurphyMade Millicent Simmonds' Bernice works at the table with Laurie Metcalfe's Raleigh

You don't have to solve the mystery to enjoy a horror story, nor does the story have to be self-explanatory. These attractions are one of the reasons why moviegoers were excited when The Gray House, a rare Broadway production, was announced. You may have seen teenage witchcraft in the previous off-Broadway production of Our Dear Dead Drug Lord, but The Great White Way eschews the experimentation of genre dramas of the atmospheric macabre that deliver on their promise, albeit in different shades. "The Piano Lesson" (nightmare story), recent revival or "1984" (explicit scares and torture). Hearing a new play like Gray House take to the big stage carries with it the dark promise of mothballs.

"The Gray House" premiered in Chicago in 2019 at the 70-seat Red Orchid Theatre, and finds an extended family at the 900-seat Lyceum Theater on Broadway with a new creative team led by director Joe Mantello (" Bath"). Creating an old-fashioned horror setting as it was then, playwright Levi Holloway begins the play by describing the scene as "a cabin in the woods." It's 1977. The cabin is home to a mysterious family unit: Raleigh (Laurie Metcalfe), a group of quirky kids and their elderly parents. Max (Tatiana Maslany's assistant Claire Karpen) and Henry (Paul Sparks) get caught in a snowstorm after the couple's car accident. The passengers rush into the cabin for cover as Henry drags his badly injured leg behind him. There, the two develop an uneasy dynamic with Raleigh and his children bombarding them with existential questions and strange games.

Learn with enthusiasm

© Morpheus Sophia Ann Caruso, Alyssa Emily Marvin, Millicent Simmonds on the steps of Gray House

As a thriller, Gray House prefers learning over suspense, an interwoven framework of interactions. The drama hangs in a haze of speculation about its target, though Swami jokes with a catchy line: "I've seen that film...we can't do that." The bedtime stories involve the mauling of poor animals, meaningful Rudy Manns costumes, a jar of moonshine that magically opens in the fridge, and a pose that may have been inspired by a still from the film Hereditary. Under the flickering lights of designer Natasha Katz (who recently worked on the "Sweeney Todd" revival), sound designer Tom Gibbons sets up the screams, moans and diegetic soundtracks that serve (and work with great joy) as the lifeblood of the silent taxi . . production designer Scott Pask).

In particular, "The Gray House" intrigues with the softly choreographed interactions between Henry and objects in the booth (movement work by choreographer Eleanor Scott), including an unspoken ghost program called "The Ancient One" (Cindy Coyne, with expressions and physical characteristics ). ). near-horror). Is it an ancient hallucination, a memory or one of the "girls" of the cabin? These theories are best reserved for message boards. In comparison, the conversational games between Max and the kids eased the tension. There is something more meaningful and powerful in the silences and expressions between Henry and the Cabin family.

The scared baby and the mysterious mother

© Morphimed The Gray House Company Signed by Eamonn Patrick O'Connell

It would be absurd to single out one of the Creepy Kids. Even though the script is full of avant-garde jokes, these "willing people" (Ma's words) make up an ingenious mixture of inexplicable motives and strange names. Colby Kipness plays Squirrel, the younger villain who first disappears into the basement with a hammer. Sophia Ann Caruso, the creator of Beetlejuice the Musical's Lydia Dietz, plays the misanthrope Marlowe, whose danger belies his grief. A pair of bad friends, Barney ("A Quiet Place" star Millicent Simmonds) and A 1656 (Alyssa Emily Marvin) speak in translated ASL in the background (Andrew Morrill conducts the artistic sign language). Oh, and I have to mention the one guy (Eamonn Patrick O'Connell, an impressive stage presence) who is symbolic of Henry.

The script does not resolve the tumultuous relationship between the children and their "mother" Raleigh, making it a controversial comic with murder jokes (audiences often laughed at Metcalfe's jokes). She is "sometimes" his mother, whatever that means, Marlowe shares. When Max asks if there is a father, Raleigh replies, "It's a secret!" before the gaze of the public. He cares for his idiosyncratic creatures, but does not interfere with their plots. One downside of the show is the improbable arc in which Metcalfe comes to this conclusion. His character is so resigned that he does not make definitive decisions.

What waits in the shadows?

© MurphyMed Tatiana Maslany and Paul Sparks work in the Gray House

So is it worth it to slow burn for 100 minutes straight? Unfortunately, The Gray House lacks two mechanisms to explore: 1) a surprising storyline that would allow it to continue as a thriller, and 2) a more realistic human psychodrama. Without giving too much away, the dramatic calculations don't work out the way the character intended. The climax is not a rush to symbolic spectacle, but is tackled in a way that disrupts themes of human value, injustice (especially to women's bodies) and regret.

The "Grey House" scenario allows for a variety of creative visions. Even if you're unhappy or disappointed with this particular Broadway vision of "Grey House," the show is a fascinating experience. This production cannot be Broadway's horror preserve . Can theatergoers and horror moviegoers still enjoy this untold tale of the woods (even if, like some of my viewers, they find it ridiculous)? It may not impress for a live experience, but it lives up to its atmosphere and cast. Right now, it's hard to predict how Gray House will realize horror's untapped potential on a Broadway stage. Somewhere in a cobweb-strewn drawer lies an untapped opportunity.

The Gray House takes place at the Lyceum Theater in New York.

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