AURORA, Illinois (August 21, 2007) The Riverfront Playhouse at 11-13 South Water Street Mall in downtown Aurora, Illinois is proud to announce the opening of their 200th main stage show, Night of the Living Dead: The Musical beginning Sept. 7 at 8 p.m. The show will continue Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. through Oct. 13.

Aside from marking the milestone of the 200th show, The Riverfront is looking at this event as the official beginning of their 30th anniversary celebration, which will officially occur in August 2008.

With script and lyrics by Jack Schultz and 11 new songs written by Kathleen Dooley and Jack Schultz, the play is based on the classic movie Night of the Living Dead by George A. Romero and John A. Russo. The play tells the story of seven people trapped in a rural house by re-animated corpses who hunt down the living to subsist on human flesh. Victims of these undead creatures also become reanimated and turn on their living counterparts.

“The movie is truly a cult classic, and it has only become more popular since its release,” says Schultz. Night of the Living Dead: The Musical follows a current trend in theatre to take the unlikeliest stories and adapt them not only to the stage, but to add musical numbers to supplement the action of the story.

Set on a Sunday evening in the late 1960’s, the story of the play begins with television reports of trouble brewing, beginning with unexplained phenomena in the Midwest and spreading across the country. Simply put, the dead are coming back to life and attacking the living. Barbara has a close encounter with the “undead” as she is visiting her father’s grave, and her brother is attacked. Barbara escapes to a farmhouse, where she meets Ben, a local who has simply run out of gas and has come to the house to escape the threat that he has witnessed first hand.

“Of course, the play is campy,” says Schultz. “There’s no way to treat such miserably dire circumstance as these folks are experiencing at the hands of something as ridiculous as re-animated corpses and not incorporate any humor. The music is intended to supplement the campiness to a certain extent, but, on the other hand, this is some of the best music I’ve ever produced, thanks to the assistance of Kathleen Dooley.”

The ‘campiness’ of the show only goes so far. “I don’t want to completely neutralize the horror of the show,” said Schultz, “and I think I’ve attained a balance between the melodramatic nature of the characters’ situations and the pathos of being surrounded by such hopeless circumstances.”

Additionally, the horror of the situation will be more than amply played out with the assistance of the playhouse’s special effects wizard, Shawn Dooley. “Body parts, organs, and blood will be a part of the show, so the squeamish should be forewarned,” advised Schultz.

Tickets for Night of the Living Dead: The Musical is $15 for adults and $12 for students and seniors. Reservations are definitely recommended and are available by calling.

ABOUT THE AACVB:

The Aurora Area Convention & Visitors Bureau serves as the tourism marketing and management organization for Aurora, Batavia, Hinckley, North Aurora, Montgomery, Plano, Sugar Grove and Yorkville. This not-for-profit organization provides numerous travel resources to visitors via the Web site at www.enjoyaurora.com and a toll-free number 1-800-477-4369