Ben Asaykwee’s production of White City Murder is a macabre musical about America’s first modern serial killer, H.H. Holmes. Herman Mudgett’ (Holmes real name) created a “murder castle” that opened for business during the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair, against a dazzling backdrop of new inventions and firsts. Within the walls of the massive building, Holmes murdered dozens of young women who had come to the big city alone — mainly to sell their skeletons to medical schools or to collect on insurance policies taken out in their names.
Askaykwee is joined on this diabolical journey by Amanda Hummer, a performer with stunning power and range. The original score is created onstage with the assistance of a recorder, so the performers sing over their own voices. It sounds tricky, but it is eerily effective.
The story takes the audience through the highlights of the “career” of Holmes, beginning a morbid countdown of murders of mainly women, but also children and men. The final murders of the Pitezel children, including a little boy in Irvington. Holmes was eventually captured and confessed to murdering 27 people, but some speculated he killed far more. Holmes was hanged 1896 in Philadelphia. Every murder is chronicled with a number on an easel, which is torn and discarded — just as Holmes discarded his victims.
A version of this show was produced a number of years ago in the Lodge in Irvington, mere blocks from the site of the last murder, which added a truly sinister edge to those shows. At the Phoenix, Asaykwee and Hummer carry that dark edge in movement and staging, sending shivers up the spine. Then, to contrast the horrors, they portray circus barkers pointing out the wonders of the Fair outside, the famous people (Helen Keller, Buffalo Bill and Annie Oakley, Edison and Tesla), and the magical lights on the Ferris Wheel spinning in the backdrop. Added up, it makes for a night of magical mayhem.
The show has been extended to July 14, with tickets for the last two weekends going fast. Call 317-635-7529 or visit phoenixtheatre.org to get in on one of the hottest shows this summer.