FringeReview USA 2025
Sam’s Skeleton Soirée
Spare Me The Details Productions
Genre: Dance, Dance and Movement Theatre, Dark Comedy, Horror
Venue: Silver Venue
Festival: FringeReview USA, Orlando Fringe
Low Down
A spooky evening of dance by an absurdly talented ensemble.
Review
If there is one thing I could ask of Sam’s Skeleton Soirée‘s producers: it is to please, for the love of the undead, change that damn AI-generated and low pixel quality poster. It does the greatest disservice to selling a show I have ever seen. It does such a damn disservice I open this review making a note of it so I can get the criticism out of the way and get to the good stuff. So please, producers likely reading this, change your damn poster image so your marketing can reflect how god damn good your show is.
So yes, reader, if you have not guessed already, Sam’s Skeleton Soiree is a phenomenally done dance show. The concept of the evening is that we are all guests to Skeleton Sam’s yearly raising of the dead. While those looking for a dance show with deeper meaning and substance will be disappointed, those simply looking to watch good choreography and a concept done right will be well-served. The dance numbers are all, as expected, death and horror themed. Category is: dance or die — and they DANCED. Perhaps I’m biased as a fan of all things spooky, but the standing ovation at the end and uproarious audience seem to agree.
I was impressed by just how energetic, skillful, and engaging the dancers were in this production. They simply killed it. One of them even went so far as to kill their dance partner – that’s how much they killed it. It was spectacularly done. Every person in the cast deserves praise and luckily, all of them had their chance to shine across the show’s many numbers. The choreographer, Rhema Joy, with choreography assistant Katie Masterson, has created a decent variety of modern dances that are varied, electric, and downright fun. Sam’s Skeleton Soirée would not be out of place at something like Universal Halloween Horror Nights.
Behind the scenes, the music was all recorded in-house. Every track you hear has been recorded and mixed by Andrew Frye. This is all the more impressive considering that during the show, I asked my friends if the “Smooth Criminal” number was the Glee cover of the song. Lady Gaga’s “Abracadabra” is the finale/bows number. You would be wrong, like I was, to mistake the vocals for Gaga herself. From what I have been told by the production team, every track was recorded in-house by several talented artists throughout Orlando. This is what impresses me so much about Sam’s Skeleton Soiree. I went in with low expectations, and a low-quality video projection introduction at the start made them drop even lower, then those dancers came out and the evening went by in a flash. Eric Cantrell and Rowyn Sam also deserve special mention for excellent set design and lighting design, respectively.
So do not let a bad poster fool you into not going: Sam’s Skeleton Soiree is not one to miss. You will be dancing in your seat and if you’re not, you’re probably dead inside already. With so much pulsing energy in the room, the dancers could bring anything back from the dead.
