“We’ll have lots of fog and mist,” Rudy Caporaso said, “and candles of the battery-powered variety. There will be very sophisticatedly engineered tombstones and a beautiful acrylic coffin. Yours truly will be in it.”
Caporaso, co-artistic director of REV Theatre Co., was talking about the “very Victorian Gothic” atmosphere he and fellow artistic director Rosey Hay plan to create at the Greenhouse Project in Scranton’s Nay Aug Park, just in time for a Graveyard Cabaret on Halloween.
Set to begin at 8 p.m. Oct. 31, and with proceeds to benefit the educational programs of the Greenhouse Project, the Graveyard Cabaret will be 80 minutes of “wall-to-wall music,” Caporaso said during a telephone interview.
Audiences can expect songs that mesh well with the ghostly holiday, such as Cher’s “Bang, Bang, (My Baby Shot Me Down),” Blue Öyster Cult’s “Don’t Fear the Reaper,” and Amy Winehouse’s “Back to Black.”
Caporaso and fellow vocalists Willow Bethke and Marley Bingham also will perform songs made famous by Radiohead, Kate Bush, Johnny Cash, Roberta Flack, Gloria Gaynor and Bessie Smith.
“All the (recorded) arrangements have been played for us by two terrifically accomplished musicians on a grand piano, very lush and opulent,” Caporaso said. “People will sit at tables and the performers will walk among them. The whole piece is very immersive.”
REV Theatre Co., based in Philadelphia and New York, has a long association with Scranton, where Caporaso spent summers visiting his grandmother until he was 13. More recently, he and Hay created several theatre projects there, directing underserved youth in Shakespeare shows, dramas based on fairy tales and also in more serious productions.
But the Graveyard Cabaret won’t be for kids, Caporaso said, citing a New York Times review that refers to REV Theatre’s work as “campy, vampy and risque.” In another review, DC Metro Theater Arts called it “a beautiful, flamboyant, haunting, hilarious and wickedly entertaining funereal roller coaster ride … a show to die for.”
“The audience will have a high old time,” Caporaso predicted. As for the cast, he added with a laugh, “We’re dead, and we see dead people. But my love for Scranton has not died.”
The Graveyard Cabaret has developed “a cult following,” Hay said, and the cast recently performed sold-out shows at Philadelphia’s Christchurch Burial Ground.
One recent Philadelphia show had to be rescheduled because of bad weather, which is one reason REV will stage its Oct. 31 Graveyard Cabaret indoors, at the Greenhouse Project, 200 Arthur Ave., Scranton. Doors open at 7 p.m., the show begins at 8 and “a ghoulish afterparty” will follow, with costumes or “at least a partial costume” more than welcome.
Proceeds of the benefit show will go to The Greenhouse Project at Nay Aug Park, which teaches children and adults about nutrition, gardening, cooking, nature and ecosystems. “Their educational programs, free and low cost, are very dear to our hearts,” Hay said.
Space is limited, so advance tickets, for $25, are recommended. Tickets may be purchased via PayPal or Venmo through scrantongreenhouse.org, or at the door for $31.
Food and beverages will be available.
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