"I'm the excuse you give when you cannot follow the rules." -The Devil, The Devil's Carnival (part 1)
So that happened.
Hellz yes, did that happen!
On Thursday, the 3rd of May, The Devil's Carnival rolled into town and set up shop at the Music Box Theater.
(I don't have all pictures just yet, I don't know when my friend won't be putting hers up.)
So as members of the Chicago Repo!The Genetic Opera! Shadowcast, The 90 Day Delinquents, my friends and I were recruited to help out with, well, whatever. They didn't really seem to need all of us, but having us there was more convenient for the parts when a mass of people were all trying to move at the same time. In the mean time, we walked the line, making sure that all the Ringmasters ($40 ticket holder), got in the correct line, and general dashing about.
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| All images so far, yanked from the the camera of Spooky Dan |
As we had arrived, it had been vaguely drizzling (I refused to put the finishing touch on my makeup because I knew that my eyeliner would smear in the wet), by the time the Sinners ($20 ticket holder) and Carnies ($30 ticket holder) were being allowed in it was not only pouring, but it was hailing as well!
I started out closer to the theatre doors, asking people to keep moving forward, and proclaiming that there was no line, so please just fill the space and let more people in. As that area got crowded, I moved on to the front lobby.
"Welcome to The Devil's Carnival at the Music Box Theater! Merchandise is there,"pointed over left shoulder, "concessions are there," pointed over right shoulder, "the time to hit that up would be now, otherwise please keep moving forward! There is no line, it's more of a mash, so get close! The floor is wet, please be careful! Now is a great time to get to know your friends more intimately, and hey make a few more, so more people can come inside! Keep moving that way!" swung arms to point straight on to my right.
As you might guess the crowd was constantly moving, so many times that particular speech got super bastardized or was said very quickly. At some point the open areas were at maximum capacity, so we had to stop the line and leave the rest in the rain, while we waited for those who were already inside to be seated. Eventually though, people started moving in again, and the rest of the poor soaked clowns, carnies, freaks, geeks, sinners, horror-lusters, and general rabble-rousers and troublemakers, were allowed in out of the waterfall, sloshing as they came. By then, the festivities were drawing near and in an attempt to get everybody seated in time, we shooed them past the merchandise table and on into the theatre. Merch would be available after the show, please move on. As the last of them dribbled in, it was time for us helpers to take our seats as well.
The pre show activities started with a (surprise, surprise) side show act by Sanjula Vamanawho I had met at, and actually walked into the Gearbox Fantastique II with! Mutter der Hölle, small world after all! Sanjula lists his repertoire on facebook as:
"Chainsaws, Whips, Bed Of Nails, Fire, Escapology, Knives, Sledge Hammers, PAIN PROOF, Human: Pin Cushion-Blockhead-Silly Straw-Cereal bowl-Sprinkler-Garbage Disposal-Stomach Pump-Dart Board, and MANY other dangerous act's of perilous danger!"
For this act, his wife(?), who I have yet to meet, put him in a straight jacket and chained him to a wheelchair. By the end, not only had he wriggled out of the chains and jacket, but he'd somehow managed to wriggle out of his pants as well!
Next up was a peek at the behind the scenes from Repo! The Genetic Opera! which was the first time Terrance Zdunich and Darren Lynn Bousman had worked on a project together, along with Darren Smith. IT WAS AWESOME!!!
Then came the costume contest judged by Emilie Autumn and won by an amazingly well done demoness/bat lady thing... it was pretty.
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| Taken from her own Facebook album (wish you could see the makeup details :/) |
Finally a few words from our guests, Terrance, Darren, and Emilie and then the show began.
So. What did I think? Well I will say that I DID enjoy it, but I will do a full review later, once the tour has come to an end. I'll say no more here, you'll just have to wait!
Afterwards there was a Q&A Where Terrance, Darren, and Emilie shared stories about working on the film, what went into it, plans for the future AND the character of Ms. Merrywood even received a first name right then and there! Eventually a halt was called, two merch booths opened, and a line was formed for signing and pictures.
I went and bought myself a signed CD and two of the smaller posters, then added my rear to back most of the line to get Emilie's signature on the CD and Poster, and pictures with the lot.
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| Poster1: Emilie Autum as The Painted Doll |
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| Poster2: IVAN MOODY as The Hobo Clown!! |
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| Terrance has met me twice before now, and he always remembers my name. What a sweet'eart. |
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| Emilie was very touchy with everyone, but she was very sweet and gentle... with me anyway |
We had hoped that they would be able to come out with us afterwards and talk, like the last time we saw Terrance, but it was just about 2 AM, and the road show schedule is not the most conducive to sleep. We understood when they didn't join us at the diner afterwards. Ah well. We'll try to raise money to hopefully get Terrance in for a Shadowcast sometime.
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