Deep Love is a macabre rock musical with book, music and lyrics by Ryan Hayes and Garret Sherwood set in a small countryside town where we meet Constance (Melanie Stone) a young widow who brings flower to her husband’s grave every day. As she sobs she’s accompanied by the ghost of her husband, a skeletal presence who goes by the name of Old Bones (Jon Peter Lewis who also co-wrote the book and co-directed the show with Michael Rader) who shares “all through the night I hear you cry, all through the day I hear you pray”. One would think a ghost that shows such empathy would make for a friendly spirit, but the second Constance sets her eyes on someone else, long haired lumbersexual Friedrich (Garrett Sherwood), Old Bones, well, has a bone to pick with his faithful widow and refuses to let her find happiness.

A plot this vicious would’ve had Edgar Allan Poe grinning from ear to ear, and as presented in the production it makes for a worthy time at the theatre. The rock infused score is energetic and memorable (there is never a thing as too much sax, and saxophonist Candido Abeyta who also plays the clarinet gets to do the show’s figurative mic drop) and the creators never let it enter full on goth territory, which makes it accessible for people who aren’t into eyeliner and all-black clothes.

Stone is a standout, as not only does she carry the show’s emotional weight on her shoulders, but she also sings like an angel (her voice sometimes sounds like Hope Sandoval trying to do hard rock) and Amy Whitcomb is also rather good as Friedrich’s former lover Florence. A show about jealousy, dark love and death should not be as enjoyable as this one.