If a deliciously dirty gay romance and a song entitled “Just a Pig…in a F—ing Wig!” gets your musical theatre heart racing, then your ship has definitely sailed into The Den Theatre this summer.
If you also count yourself as one of the many passionate horror fans that have embraced such projects as Shudder’s Queer for Fear, then you may also consider your destiny finally met here, as well. The national tour of Saw: The Musical – An Unauthorized Parody of Sawhas settled into this beloved Wicker Park complex for a limited run and, in a surprise twist, it is one of the silliest and gayest shows ever.
Centering around the relationship of Lawrence and Adam, the tormented duo locked together in filthy disharmony in the original film in the long running terror series, this production is passionately and zanily propelled along by talented opera tenor Blake Friedman (Lawrence) and the comically frantic Anthony Chavers (Adam). On the other side of the curtain, queer book writer Zoe Ann Jordan has been passionately helping to guide this production to its current bloody heights since the show’s beginnings in Philadelphia. Jordan thoughtfully sat down with the Windy City Times to let us know how this unexpected marvel came to be.
Windy City Times: I am a huge horror fan, but the notion of Saw as a vehicle for the LBGTQIA community would have never occurred to me.
Zoe Ann Jordan: For me, I considered it such a queer story because of Saw’s rule about no sex, no romance. It’s easier to project a queer text onto something like that. Representation is so minimal, so we are able to do that. To me the original is such a queer-coded film. I am a huge Saw fan and that is where it is strongest in the franchise.
WCT: Do you feel the attractiveness of Cary Elwes (Lawrence Gordon) and Leigh Whannell (Adam), the original film’s leads, plays into this notion, as well?
ZAJ: I think it’s as simple as the fact that the two men have chemistry onscreen. The whole point of the film, as well, is that human connection that they reach at the end. Lawrence Gordon could have crawled out of that bathroom to save himself. But he takes the time to crawl over, while he’s losing blood, to hold Adam and essentially say, I’m coming back for you. You’re important to me. Maybe a lot of people wouldn’t view that as romantic, but I viewed it as romantic. I’m someone who is queer and I know a lot of other queer people who would view that as romantic. It’s something that I think is important in media–to interpret films the way you want to interpret them. I think that is what art is about. So, for me, that is just how I interpreted it. Other people obviously have a different interpretation of that.
WCT: It is amazing how art can be viewed on so many different levels.
ZAJ: I think interpretation is one of our keystones. Especially in horror, there is so much room for that.
WCT: As the film series progresses, Jigsaw’s acolytes develop a familial bond with him. Interestingly, this production has a kinder version of that vibe, behind the scenes.
ZAJ: My brother Cooper is the conceiver and lead producer here. He had the great idea that the first film is pretty much only one set. It was the most easily producible. So, he came to me and asked me to write a Saw musical because it has been his dream to do that. I’m the writer in a very artistic family. It was my idea to make it a romance and make it sort-of more of a rom-com. Of course, I had to do it as a parody because it’s the only way you can do it legally without getting licensing.
WCT: Aside from the comedic elements, can audiences expect some major bloodshed?
ZAJ: We do have a splash zone. Our main moment obviously is Lawrence Gordon sawing his foot off. We actually started in Philadelphia in an out-of-town tryout. We brought it to off-Broadway for several months and then began the tour. In Philadelphia, it was pretty much a Pringles can with a pant leg over it. It was very cheap effect. For the National Tour, we wanted to upgrade it. So now we have made this very realistic foot out of gelation that he is actually able to saw through while popping blood packs. The front row usually gets splattered and you get to see a real foot get sawed off!
WCT: Fun! Has there been anything that has truly surprised you about the show as it has traveled from state to state?
ZAJ: When we started this we thought this would be more Little Shop meets Avenue Q. A lot of us were shocked to discover that it is really more Rocky Horror. In L.A. we kind of figured that out because the audience interaction was insane. It was like nothing I’d ever seen. We have these little squeaky pigs that we sell at the table. We had to make a rule for when the audience could squeak them. They were squeaking them through the entire show! The actors were getting pissed. I was getting pissed. We made it a rule that they get to squeak them when Adam hits the stuffed pig with a baseball bat in Act 2. It’s sort of become like a Rocky Horror moment. There have been other moments where the audience is shouting out lines before they happen. It’s really made my day because I am a big Rocky Horror fan.
WCT: Which, naturally, means there have been repeat customers in other cities.
ZAJ: Definitely! In L.A., we had people come 3 and 4 times.
To be among the excited locals attending this touring production multiple times, please visitwww.sawthemusical.com. The show is currently running at The Den Theatre until August 11.