REVIEW: "Reefer Madness"

Natasha Gleichmann, James O'Hagan Murphy and Whitney Fisher in Equinox Theatre Company's "high" and mighty production of the musical "Reefer Madness."

The principal difference between "Reefer Madness," the 1938 cautionary film and "Reefer Madness," the "hit" musical presented by Equinox Theatre Company at the Bug Theatre, is that the first takes the "high" road, and the latter aims very, very low. The first was unintentionally amusing because of it's deadly earnestness in presenting a grossly fictionalized account of small town teens brought to destruction and despair by the demon weed marijuana. The musical delights in its over the top, below the belt depiction of the slippery slope from loss of innocence into degeneration and depravity precipitated by experimentation with the forbidden "fruit."

Naive high school student Jimmy (in a stellar performance by James O'Hagan Murphy), abandons the sweet girl next door Mary (Ariel Cagan) and the "square" life when he falls under the influence of several seedy characters who get him hooked on a kind of pot that is so potent it seems to have been laced with a combination of PCP, Meth, crack cocaine and Satan himself. Jimmy's freefall from grace leads to lying, theft, sexual deviance, violence, futile attempts to turn over a new "leaf," and eventually to a seat in the electric chair.

In a pivotal scene, a goofy, grinning "Jesus" (Robert Harbour) urges Jimmy to renounce marijuana and embrace the greater pleasures that God offers, but Jimmy cries out "I have a different god, now." Too true, and he reaps the whirlwind. Later, the drug-fueled hallucination of Jesus, the great "High" King returns, not to save the repentant Jimmy, but to gloat at the sinner's comeuppance. Ouch.

The frequently semi- and often cross-dressed cast are clearly having so much fun celebrating the aberrant behavior depicted in "Reefer Madness," it's possible they have no idea how effective this satire can be in actually discouraging drug abuse. But the extremely bright director, Colin Roybal obviously "gets it," and makes the most of Kevin Murphy and Dan Studney's brilliant book, lyrics and music. The show is uproariously funny, the musical numbers are show-stoppers, and the cast over-acts (if that's possible with this material) with total abandon. Despite numerous heavily eroticized situations, the show is far from titillating. It's hysterically funny and repugnant at the same time.

The only sour note in the whole show is a last minute indictment against the "government" for telling us lies about the true properties of marijuana, in an effort to scare its citizens into avoiding the pitfalls of drug use. It's true that marijuana is more likely to render people stupid and useless than turn them into drooling lunatics, rapists and murderers. But the "evils" of weed are so demonized, it becomes a metaphor for other threats to human dignity, and so actually and compellingly makes the very point the show seeks to ridicule.

Equinox Theatre Company's three most recent big hits: "Night of the Living Dead," "Little Shop of Horrors" and "Reefer Madness," are all horror comedies in which the laws of society and personal integrity are seriously eroded by an irresistible and irreversible external force. All three shows present the post-modern deterioration of human dignity and collapse of moral boundaries into a fatalistic orgy of excess. Damnation has never seemed like so much fun. But it does give one pause to recognize a pattern.

"Reefer Madness" is absolutely "adults only." It's not going to poison their minds or destroy their morals, but it would simply be too hard to explain to children why adults who should know better are acting so stupid. Ah, the innocence of youth.

Equinox Theatre Company's "Reefer Madness" plays at the Bug Theatre, 3654 Navajo St. in Denver, through September 17. All tickets are $15, and performances are Fridays-Saturdays only, at 7:30 p.m. Visit www.equinoxtheatredenver.com for tickets and information.