Review: “This is Halloween” Dance cabaret based on Tim Burton’s film “The Nightmare Before Christmas” and the music/lyrics of Danny Elfman. Conceived and performed by the Can Can Castaways. Played Oct 29-31 at The Triple Door.
The Can Can Castaways dance troupe has charmed audiences at their Pike Place Market for the last few years, winning hordes of loyal fans of their athletic but artistic style of classic cabaret dancing. Every year they stage a special Halloween show at The Triple Door and this year’s show, “This is Halloween” is a homage to the classic Tim Burton animated film, “The Nightmare Before Christmas”. The Can Can brings a high level of dance professionalism and artistic showmanship to their shows, and “This is Halloween” does feature some beautiful, balletic dance and some high calibre production values, including some beautiful costuming, lighting and effects. But, the show is unfocused and unfulfilled; only hardcore fans of the film are going to be able to follow the plot of this show. And the beautiful, whimsical score by Danny Elfman has been “rocked” up with the presence of the backing musicians, the MOR rock opera band, Gods Discs of Fury…the result is a cruise ship version of the arty, delicate film. As a fan of the film, and the music, I was disappointed.
I’m not sure about the reaction of the audience which seemed to be made up equally of hardcore Can Can fanatics (Can Fanatics?) and hardcore “Nightmare/Burton” fans. There were significant cheers and screams of approval, but I noticed that a few people did leave before the show was over. The show was long and oddly paced with an odd opening act consisting of the band and a “Greek Odyssey” set that didn’t feature any dance or have anything to do with the rest of the show. The music was bland and traditional 80’s movie montage music; dull and forgettable. There was an intermission and then the actual story of “Nightmare Before Christmas” began. Then, another intermission and the conclusion to the show. The whole flow of the night was odd and unsatisfying.
What I did like: the dancing and the dancers were energetic and artistically satisfying. Lead dancer, Jonny Boy made a sexy and passionate “Jack Skellington”, though a little too athletically beefy to pass for any kind of skeletal creature. The costumes were very well done and authentic to the source material. Lighting and the film projections were mood appropriate and professionally executed.
“This is Halloween” is a show with a lot of promise. If Can Can wants to add this to their future repertoire, I would advise them to hire a professional theater writer to outline a properly structured and more coherent storyline and to “art” up the music. Middle of the Road/AM rock is not the way to go to properly respect the excellent source material.
– Michael Strangeways
