ORLANDO — If you’re on a social media site like Facebook or Instagram, you know folks love posting baby pictures. And come on, curmudgeon or not, you’ve got to admit some of those babies are so adorable.
But …
If you’re a horror fan, you probably know that nothing can be scarier than the terror of a monstrous baby — think movies such as It’s Alive or Pet Sematary as ghastly examples.
A fine example of this genre’s effectiveness is now on stage courtesy of Phantasmagoria Orlando, that Halloween-loving troop of Victorian-style performers who have spent nearly two decades recreating horror stories from classic literature. Their newest production, Hauntingly Whimsical Tales, opened on Thursday at Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts for a weekend run. One of the stories they maliciously recreate is “The Beastly Baby” by Edward Gorey, a sometimes tongue-in-cheek horror piece about a truly horrible baby that torments its family, and they can’t figure out what to do with the little demon. Then nature intervenes.
Phantasmagoria brings the monster child vividly to life courtesy of a ghoulishly active baby puppet, some gravely frightening (and funny) sound effects (including the baby’s blood-curdling cries) and some stylishly evocative illustrations posted on a large screen at the back of the stage. By the end of this story, you won’t know whether to laugh — or scream.
Or both.
Phantasmagoria’s newest production, which will be touring Central Florida through Nov. 8, is actually a tribute to Gorey and his extensive body of work. As “The Beastly Baby” amply demonstrates, Gorey loved a good chill mixed deliciously with some dark, cruel humor.
What is Phantasmagoria XVI: Hauntingly Whimsical Tales?
The full title of Phantasmagoria’s newest production is Hauntingly Whimsical Tales: Celebrating 100 Years of Author and Artist Edward Gorey. At the end of the production, the entire cast pays tribute to the Chicago native who became known for his illustrations, theater work, and eerie writings.
Phantasmagoria’s author, director and lead actor, John DiDonna, was able to secure the rights to the stories recreated in this production, with the support of the Edward Gorey Charitable Trust.
I’d wager a safe bet that the directors of the Trust are likely to find much to admire in how Phantasmagoria has managed Gorey’s work, from short stories to funny and cruel limericks. In past years, the Phantasmagoria Orlando (this is their 16th year doing local productions) performers have recreated horror short stories from the likes of Edgar Allan Poe, Charles Dickens, and so on, reading them verbatim while acting out each character. The massive screen at the back of the stage provides vivid and gorgeously-designed illustrations of the places where each story is set to enhance the action happening on stage. Small and large scale puppets have also been effectively used to recreate horror tales involving ghosts, dragons, monsters and the like.
DiDonna has always enjoyed the merger of humor and horror — don’t think Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein, more like pitch dark humor meets paranoid horror, which tends to work together as effectively as gin and tonic, and tastes equally exquisite.
A fine example from this show is their recreation of what is perhaps Gorey’s most famous story, The Gashlycrumb Tinies, an A through Z tale that follows the grim (and twisted) fate of 26 children. Each one represents a letter of the alphabet, and each child ends up meeting a gruesome, chilling deaths. Rhyming couplets describe each child’s demise; it begins “A is for Amy who fell down the stairs,” then “B is for Basil assaulted by bears.” You get the idea, and don’t forget, they go through every letter of the alphabet right up to Z, so that’s a lot of grisly deaths! The illustrations are both viciously comical and, on some level, more than a little bit disturbing.
Phantasmagoria XVI’s largest cast seems to be having a blast tackling Gorey’s tormented tales, and their comedic timing is put to great use, especially in teasing the audience that there won’t be a nasty shocker by the end. Remember that.
The production is also getting more sophisticated at mixing sound with visuals — the Beastly Baby’s guttural howls are a fine grim example. What Gorey seems to understand so effectively is that humor and horror work exceptionally well together because one genre can be used to enhance the other; both rely heavily on building tension, the element of surprise, and, by the end, the complete subversion of our expectations.
And it’s really fun to watch!
Phantasmagoria XVI is a fine way to get into the Halloween spirits, not to mention it’s a fitting tribute to Gorey’s talent that may help introduce his excellent work to a new generation. Not too shabby at all.
Where Can I See Phantasmagoria XVI?
Phantasmagoria XVI: Hauntingly Whimsical Tales is being performed tonight, Saturday and Sunday at Dr Phillips Center for the Performing Arts, 445 S. Magnolia Ave. in downtown Orlando at 8 p.m. each night. The show runs for 80 minutes without intermission.
Upcoming performances include:
- Oct. 24-25 at The Athens Theatre (Deland)
- Oct. 26 at the Tampa Theatre
- Nov. 1 at the Reilly Arts Center (Ocala)
- Nov. 7-8 at the Theatre West End (Sanford)
To learn more to get purchase tickets or reservations, log on to www.PhantasmagoriaOrlando.com or visit Phantasmagoria on Facebook or Instagram and TikTok at @PhantasOrlando
What is Phantasmagoria?
Two words: Victorian Horror.
For every Halloween season since 2009, the Phantasmagoria troupe has been entertaining local audiences through acrobatics, music, dance, giant puppets, and, most importantly, by recreating classic tales of terror from the vaults of legendary horror writers like Edgar Allan Poe, Mary Shelley and many others. Each year, there are new stories — not to mention new adventures for the circus-like performers themselves, and also sometimes new actors as well.
If you’ve lived in Central Florida over the past decade, that word Phantasmagoria needs no introduction. The troupe has been performing around Halloween, at the Orlando International Fringe Theatre Festival, and more recently, around Christmas with their unique version of A Christmas Carol.
Michael Freeman is an Orlando journalist, playwright and author of the terrifying book “Bloody Rabbit”. Contact him at Freelineorlando@gmail.com.
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