PARANORMAL ACTIVITY

This boggles even my own mind, but not only had I never seen any of the seven movies in the Paranormal Activity film franchise, I had never even heard of them! How is that even possible? But when I saw those words as the title of a new play at the Ahmanson Theatre, I was totally into it! And that nescience made me go in with zero preconceived notions, which you know I love.

Just as the Cowardly Lion repeats in The Wizard of Oz, “I do believe in spooks! I do believe in spooks! I do, I do, I do, I do, I do believe in spooks!” (I prefer the word “ghosts” to “spooks.”) I actually received a couple of really good messages from my mother a few months after she passed. They involved money, so of course I became a believer! But the ones in Paranormal Activity are definitely not of the same variety!

And that makes it a pretty good stage show. And certainly worth seeing, especially if you’re with someone whose arm you don’t mind grabbing! (And vice versa. Guys—just remember to flex that bicep as a hand approaches!)

But here’s where I have to remind you all about expectations. It’s a good lesson that Mr. X taught me a long while ago. He told me to stop telling my friends that anything will be “incredibly fabulous,” or the like, because then they’re almost sure to be let down. And conversely, if someone is expecting almost nothing, the event or whatever will more than likely be perceived as good. I forgot my own lesson in this instance, and expected so unbelievable a presentation that I was just a tad disappointed. But mind you—just a tad.

Three years ago, on the very same stage, I saw 2:22 — A Ghost Story, and it was so deliciously chilling and entertaining that I wanted to see it again the second it ended! I had built-up in my mind that Paranormal Activity would elicit the same reaction from me. So it was my own super-high expectations that let me down a bit on this one.

Now, before I tell you what the show is about already, I must share this excellent recommendation with you: My friend Marc’s sweet spot for shows is ninety minutes. Longer than that and he gets antsy. But even though Paranormal Activity clocked in at over two hours, he said he was wishing it was even longer! How’s that for a positive review???

And I noticed a very interesting human phenomenon occurring on opening night. Because of the assemblage being scared together, (and even due to the prospect of that happening,) I felt that the audience was more full of camaraderie than usual. Everyone seemed to be chatting more than ever at intermission and on the way out. Actually, many of us did so even before the show began!

Speaking of opening night, it turned-out to be really fun that it was raining on the way in because the action takes place in…always-rainy London!

So that’s the setting, and the premise of the play is that a young married couple, James and Lou, (well played by Patrick Heusinger and Cher Álvarez,) move across the pond from Chicago for two reasons—for the husband’s new job, but mainly to escape some spooky weirdness that was happening to the wife at their last location. So they’re starting anew, hoping that they left the apparitions far behind.

I do have to admit that the first half is a bit slow, most likely due to all the set-up of the situation. And I did find a few holes in the script, but they’re not egregious. However, even though, as usual, I won’t give anything away here, I must declare that there’s one terrifying moment in Act One that I will remember for the rest of my life!

And for a somewhat scary show, there’s a lot of humor, which you know I always appreciate. The best line of the night is when someone asks the husband what he likes best about the wife, and after his answer of how she makes him feel, the woman queries, “And what do you love most about your wife that has nothing to do with you?!”

I was most impressed with the creative and detailed double-decker set from the wonderfully-monikered Fly Davis. It shows us every area of the couple’s apartment, even the bathroom, which, trust me, they make use of, including James relieving himself! (Thank goodness he washed his hands afterwards, or many of us would have obsessed over it for the rest of the night! Guilty.) [Note: I don’t have any pix of the full stage or else I would have featured them here.]

However, even in my excellent mid-orchestra seat, the sheer massiveness of the structure, which takes up the full width of the Ahmanson stage, made me feel a bit like I was Jimmy Stewart spying on people across the entire courtyard in Rear Window! (But I was able to see Patrick Heusinger’s dazzling muscles really well, even from afar! I just wish that I had taken out my binos in time to get a closer look!) (And on a hopefully interesting sidebar, I had also made note of his abs when I reviewed him in Bent a decade ago, right here at the adjacent Mark Taper Forum! I’m glad to see that his fitness, and my shallowness, have not changed since then!)

I always have a problem with dark lighting, especially in entertainments. It not only hurts my eyes, but makes me drowsy. (Marc said the same thing.) I understand it’s needed in Paranormal Activity to set the eerie mood, but, even with our aforementioned excellent location, my friend and I couldn’t make out a lot of the action, especially in Act II, where we couldn’t see the actors a chunk of the time.

And I have a conundrum with some of the sound. Not that it gets loud in places, (as I heard a few other audience members complain about a bit,) but that the sound of rain in the background, (most likely to project that they’re in London,) was making some of us need to emulate James in his restroom scene! So that bit is nothing bad, just perhaps unnecessary.

Those few peccadillos aside, Paranormal Activity is a fun experience. Only now I keep jumping at every little sound in my house!

Paranormal Activity running through December 7, 2025
Ahmanson Theatre 135 N. Grand Avenue

213-972-4400 www.centertheatregroup.org