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I saw Exorcistic: The Rock Musical at The Asylum NYC on September 24, 2025, and I had a great time. This show is a campy, self-aware parody of The Exorcist that blends horror, rock, comedy, and chaos into a uniquely wild night of theater. It has a show-within-a-show structure where a struggling troupe stages a parody rock musical of the classic horror film and ends up literally summoning demons in the process, which makes for an outrageous and unpredictable ride.
The creative mind behind it is Michael Shaw Fisher, who wrote the book, music, and lyrics and even performs in the piece. The talented ensemble included Emma Hunton as the possessed “Megan,” Ethan Crystal and Jesse Merlin as the priest characters, Leigh Wulff as Megan’s mother, Steven Cutts in various roles, Jaime Lyn Beatty as the Stage Manager, Richardson Cisneros-Jones, and Hannah Bonnett rounding out the company. Their energy and commitment are infectious. They lean into the material fully, and you can feel them having fun onstage in a way that translates directly to the audience.
The show plays with the Exorcist legacy by pulling the audience into its self-aware joke machine. There are moments of fourth wall breaks, audience interaction, and rapid swings between rock, cabaret, and outrageous comedy. Some genuinely clever riffs on the source material kept me engaged, and when the production leans into its absurdity, it is hilarious. The rock-infused score is loud and shameless in all the right ways, giving the parody teeth while honoring the deranged spirit of the original.
A big part of what made this particular performance memorable was the special guest of the night: Golem from Golem Owned a Tropical Smoothie. Yes, that Golem. The musical Golem Owned a Tropical Smoothie tells the story of a non-copyright infringing creature who owns a non-copyright infringing smoothie shop in Panama City Beach, Florida, and must rally his loyal crew to save it from a smoothie-empire CEO. The show has been building momentum for a while and actually won SoHo Playhouse’s 4th Annual Lighthouse Series, which means it will get a full production in 2026. That success highlights just how fun and inventive the work is, and seeing that character drop into Exorcistic felt like a perfect crossover moment of off-beat theatre worlds.
It is by no means perfect. On some nights the sound mix can bury the lyrics under the band, and the chaos can feel crowded. Even so, the campiness and sheer inventiveness carried me through. The guest star element adds an extra layer of fun, and on the night I saw it, the energy was alive and electric. Exorcistic is messy in the best possible way — it is loud, it is ridiculous, and it knows exactly what it wants to be. If you love horror spoofs, parody musicals, and wild theatrical experiments, this is one worth keeping an eye on as it continues to evolve.
