Nevermore

Nevermore “The Imaginary Life and Mysterious Death of Edgar Allan Poe” is playing at the New World Stages located at 340 West 50th Street. The musical runs two hours twenty minutes with one intermission. This is an opened show.

Edgar Allan Poe was born in Boston, Massachusetts on January 19, 1809 and died in Baltimore, Maryland on October 17, 1849. Among the well-known stories he has written are “The Raven”, “The Murders in the Rue Morgue” and “The Pit and the Pendulum”.

The musical premiere in 2008 at the Catalyst Theatre, located in Edmonton, Canada. It won several awards in Canada.

Edgar is on a steamship heading for New York. He is standing on deck with a feather pen and writing book in his hand. Six people inside the cabin encourage him to come inside. He is wet so they give him dry clothes. When he has changed they ask him to tell them about his life. Edgar blows the dust from the book and begins to tell us his life story. We learn about his early childhood to his death.

Who hasn’t heard about Edgar Allan Poe, but how many know about his life.

This is a quirky show. There is no set, just sliding doors. The sound effects are the only props. If you are expecting traditional clothing of the time period, you won’t see them. The costumes to say the least are strange. The female cast member’s skirts remind me of lamp shades. Weird spike hair do's are worn by the men and the women well that’s another story.

The songs tell the story, no tunes to go home humming.

If you are looking for traditional theatre this is not the show for you. If you are looking for something different, well then you might like to see this show then. I know it spark my interest to find out if the things said about Poe were true.

Review by Rozanna Radakovich.

Photos by Annazor.

To read a candid interview with the cast, scroll down to the left for recent photos. Click on recent photos for this and other shows.