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If you’re looking for a fun, original, different experience, head out to the Historic Auditorium in St. Croix Falls, WI for a hell of a good time at the original musical comedy ‘Heck’, a Festival Theatre production.

The laughs started right away during the show, with the highlight of Heck, Belpho, an emotional support demon of the devil, introducing himself and the set up to the play. Belpho is a hilariously crafted character that is played by one of the writers, Jesse March. His costume is intentionally and humorously shaded in all the wrong places to make him look like a sad, overweight and always down-on-his-luck vassal of Hell.  March nails it with his mannerisms and physical acting. Throughout the musical, Belpho holds his costume belly like it's a newborn baby, and it’s a subtle, yet always funny aspect of his character. As part of his costume, he has lower fangs that jut out of his jaw, giving him a buffoonish lisp and a sad, drooped solo horn atop his head that just completes the character from top to bottom.

The musical comedy, which is also written and directed by Kathryn Cesarz, who plays the Devil herself, is unlike anything you’ve seen before in movies or on TV. Cesarz’s devil character is fresh out of a relationship with God. At least it’s fresh in her mind, even though she acknowledges at one point it’s been over 6,000 years and she was an angel then. She certainly seems to miss her Holy companion and the play takes a modern and funny look at a break up. The ensuing potential rekindling of the tryst is complete with the equivalent of an ‘Are you still up?’ text— and using other people – or in this case demons and angels – for jealous reactions. 

Cesarz does a wonderful job of playing a complex character who is smart and witty but still falls for the trappings of love and the ‘what if’ after a break up  like we’ve all been through.

The musical comedy even makes heavy use of puppetry which is a fun part of the storyline. 

Squee is a three and a half foot bundle of misery controlled and voiced by three separate actors in an impressive display of dexterity. In a play featuring the devil and demons, Squee is the worst of them all, and of course Evan Grande, the young man who voices him, uses a slick talking East coast accent, which is a nightmare in and of itself for our ‘you betcha!’ Minnesota dialect. Lindsey Fry and Mary Margaret Hughes are the other parts of the trifecta that make Squee move, but they also play other bumbling demons for the devil and although they don’t have many speaking parts, their dimwittedness shines through their acting and it makes for some good comedy throughout the two and a half hour production.

Alexandria Neyhart plays a great foil to Cesarz’s devil character. She is an angel named Gabby who is sent by God clearly to make Cesarz jealous, and she does so in a bubbly and excitable way, all while showing off her ‘athleisure’ outfits to an impressed and smitten Belpho.

Of course, one of the main parts of a musical comedy is the music.  Sky Yela, Peter Clare and Dan Rosen nail the frightful and at times sharp sounds of hell from a bass, guitar and violin. Yela even gets in on the singing at one point while his bass guitar is manned by a demon pulling double duty (Nick Miller as Ruben, the devil’s “distraction” from her infatuation with God.) Without great original music, a performance like this can fall flat, but that is certainly not the case here. It’s engaging, timely and pleasant.

Although ‘Heck’ uses grand, venerable characters, it really is just a humorous look at how love – the good and the bad – can affect anyone and the silly things it can make someone do. In a world of remakes and cover songs and reimaginations, an original musical comedy like ‘Heck’ deserves attention and praise. It's fun, fresh and engaging throughout the show with plenty of laughs and delightful acting.

‘Heck’ began running last weekend at Historic Auditorium in SCF and will run Thursday-Sunday over the next two weeks (Oct. 17-20 and Oct. 24-27). The Thursday, Friday and Saturday shows are at 7:30 p.m. and the Sunday matinees are at 2 p.m. Tickets can be found by going to www.festivaltheatre.org

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