More of a Broadway scream machine than a drama, Paranormal Activity opened Tuesday in its New York premiere at the August Wilson Theatre, where the title burns in blazing letters across a midnight-blue show curtain. The screaming starts even before the performance begins because extremely loud rock music continuously blasts through the already twilit auditorium as theatergoers settle into their seats, encouraging them to yell amongst themselves while chatting, snapping photos and figuring out drink orders. Before the curtain slowly rises and later during an intermission driven by more cacophonous music, many spectators ramble up and down the aisles with bevvies in hand. I am not permitted to drink on the job, although cocktails likely will help to make Paranormal Activity easier to swallow.
Still, fun’s fun, and ticket buyers who enjoy sensational doings such as roller coasters and horror flicks will want to check out this new attraction inspired by the Paranormal Activity film series. Writer Levi Holloway provides a new story rendered in a two-act format performed by several good actors amid an abundance of dark, ominous atmosphere.
Holloway’s modern-day scenario transpires upon two floors of a remarkably gloomy house in London where a nice, 30s-something, American couple, Lou (Cher Álvarez) and James (Travis A. Knight), have taken recent possession. Oh, yes, speaking of possession, Lou is dreadfully unsettled by unexplainable weird doings back home in Chicago. That’s why Lou is swallowing antidepressants. That’s why they moved overseas to get away from whatever plagued them. By way of FaceTime sessions projected on a flat screen TV, James’ sunshiny mom in Boca Raton (Shannon Cochran) helpfully furnishes further expository details.
