I read the play being based on the orignal novel, not the movie. Aside from updating time issues like cell phones etc, it's no different. Except for the excitement. When I read that Teller (of Penn &) was an effects consultant, I was hoping that there might be special effects. Ish. I was expecting more. I wanted to like this a lot. I liked it a little.

I REALLY wanted to like this play, even a little bit, but unfortunately the unusual staging only served to diminish what was good about the story. It felt like watching an Ingmar Bergman film, with the actors standing across the stage talking over one another and rarely engaging, unless they had a specific reason to do so. Brooke Shields turned in a very good performance, and Richard Chamberlain could read the phone book and be entertaining, but it was Harry Groener who walked away with the play, bringing the only character depth to any of the performances. The rest of the actors seemed stiff and acted at a collegiate level. I honestly thought they were the understudies. A few cheap jump-scares and a nice Vegas-style magic trick were the extent of any effort to touch on the supernatural elements of the story, and ultimately, when the end of the show came and the actors heard the "slow hand" clapping from the now 20% lighter audience, it appeared that they themselves realized things had not worked as all might have hoped, myself included. Two quick curtain calls, and I suspect Brooke and Richard were home in bed before I left the parking lot. I always applaud any effort to push the boundaries of theater, and it saddens me when a production falls this far short.

This site makes crazy things out of apostrophes, so try to read through them. What a disappointment. I will start with the first thing you see. The stage and set design looks ominous at first but before long just comes off as lazy. Then there is the story and it's characters. There is never any character development so you never feel anything for anyone and the characters themselves don't even seem to know who they are or who they are supposed to care about. The mother (Brooke Shields) is supposedly not religious yet gets upset to see her daughter playing with a Ouija board. Later she seems more upset that the priest (or, more seemingly, the "Doc" of the old west) doesn't have a magic tonic in his black bag than she does about her daughter being either possessed or mentally ill. In fact you never feel that she cares about her daughter at all but cares more that her household has been upset. She is supposed to be a very rich actress but rather than stay with her daughter and send a staff member she just leaves her home and goes off to the pharmacy! The uncle seems to care for his niece but gets angry at the thought of babysitting her for 15 minutes. The head priest (Richard Chamberlain) seems more like a late night TV horror movie host who is more Vampira than Elvira at first, but by the end, with his widening eyes and raised eyebrows quickly becomes Bela Lugosi in Ed Wood. The younger priest and the housekeeper are the plays only saving grace. Fine performances and some character background provide fleeting interest. The uncle is apparently (spoiler alert) murdered simply for being gay and the young priest (spoiler) takes his life because of guilt and his own selfish reasons rather than for any heroic or caring reason. There is never any threat or sense of danger throughout the 90 minutes and the ending is abrupt and mostly uneventful. There is a cool levitation scene that brings your attention back to the performance in front of you but it's fleeting. Then we are right back to the temper-tantrum-having child who curses, a mother who is more upset with herself over a past parental misstep than about the child in front of her, a selfish priest, and another priest you half expect to raise his arm in front of his face, covering half of it with his robe, and start saying "blah, blah" in a Transylvanian accent. Dull, emotionless and uneven, this production could use a trip back to the drawing board, writing room, and rehearsal workshop more than anyone here needs an exorcism.