Like the film it parodies, Saw the Musical: The Unauthorized Parody of Saw is not for the faint of heart. Playing at The Den Theatre, Saw the Musical is coming from a run in New York and is headed for Cleveland next on its national tour. A franchise with 10 movies is hardly lacking material to satirize, but the musical version focuses on the first cult-favorite film. Saw the Musical was created by Cooper Jordan and written by Zoe Ann Jordan, with music and lyrics by Patrick Spencer and Anthony de Angelis.
The show features two captives of the serial killer Jigsaw, Dr. Lawrence Gordon (Blake Friedman) and Adam Stanheight (Anthony Chavers), with a third ensemble member (Janey Elliot) taking up additional roles and operating Jigsaw's menacing puppet. Like in the original film, Adam and Dr. Gordon find themselves alone in a disgusting bathroom and receive instructions via tape recorder that say if they don’t kill the other, they will die. However, being an unauthorized parody, Saw the Musical adds a ridiculous twist: the pair, chained several feet apart, become star-crossed lovers. Besides being “bored and horny,” the characters are also unable to scheme a clever escape plan: Dr. Gordon calls Adam a “sexy moron who can’t read,” and the oncologist himself is, of course, only able to come up with self-amputation by hacksaw as a way out.
Though they were both captured by Jigsaw each led his own flawed life beforehand, which the audience sees in over-the-top flashback sequences. Dr. Gordon had been cheating on his wife with his coworker Darla, played by a semi-clothed blowup doll. Dr. Gordon's inconsistent British accent adds even more absurdity to the show, along with a faked tap dance number and an orderly wearing a pig mask with a wig. When we discover that Jigsaw has taken Gordon's daughter Diana and wife Alison hostage, there's more comic relief as Anthony Chavers ditches his ankle chain and puts on a wig to play Diana. Chavers also delivers a hilarious performance as Adam, sharing his preference for 15-people orgies and singing sweetly about going to Applebee's.
One major flaw in the production is that there's no warning for the fake blood that splashes the first three rows. Though the seats were protected by plastic, there was no protection for audience members. (And the stains on my pants were definitely more upsetting than the gore onstage.) Another was Dr. Gordon's gratuitous simulations of intercourse with the blowup doll—this song and dance number is worth taking a bathroom break during, even as it falls mid act. And act two runs way too long in general, (potentially because the intermission marker falls too early in the narrative) and there's a heavy burden of flashbacks to get through in the show's second half instead of rising action.
Amidst plenty of uncomfortable moments and juvenile jokes, Saw the Musical still manages to raise questions relevant to the entire Saw franchise: Shouldn’t Jigsaw be capturing more important people? Is that clock on the wall—counting down the minutes they have left to kill each other—from IKEA? And, as the musical's self-aware lyrics plead, “Not another flashback! It’s only the first movie!” As silly as this musical is, it provides a few mantras that every horror movie victim should keep in mind: “Live the life you love,” “Follow your heart,” and, “If you don’t die, you’ll be glad you’re alive.” Despite its gross-out factor, Saw the Musical will at least make you want to go to Applebee’s (if not find a "sexy moron" to love along the way).
Saw the Musical is playing at the Den Theatre at 1331 N. Milwaukee Ave. through August 11. Tickets are available at thedentheatre.com or by calling 773-697-3830. Running time is about 100 minutes with an intermission..
For more information on this and other plays, see theatreinchicago.com.
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