Barely Living

Shelby Bond – MTYP Mainstage

A zombie musical? This almost felt like a Kids’ Fringe show, in spite of the content.

The three performers from Los Angeles give a lengthy spoken introduction before the show proper, asking people to make certain sounds when certain actions occur, and to not be bothered by them moving about the audience to gently hit them with plastic weapons as if they (the audience) were zombies.

When the show begins, we meet slacker roommates Caleb and Toby, who barely leave the confines of their home, a more adventurous survivor named Mariah, who shakes up their routine, and finally an actual zombie named Emily.

This fourth character is played by a woman picked from the audience and given extensive zombie face makeup before appearing in the story.

There are also some well-sung songs that appear intermittently throughout the show, but the plot itself tends toward the perfunctory.

Konrad Antony