Ross Marlowe opens the door to a darker dream on “A Halloween Tale”

Ross Marlowe combines theatrical narrative and a Halloween mood in “A Halloween Tale,” a dramatic, orchestral musical-theatre tune from his original musical London.

The story opens on Halloween when Tom takes a babysitting job and decides to tell a scary story to a group of rambunctious children. From there, the song takes a darker turn, starting as a story about death and gradually morphing into something a whole lot more uplifting.

That switch is the most emotional aspect of "A Halloween Tale." Instead of merely exploiting the usual evil of Halloween, the song uses its frightening atmosphere as a springboard for a fantasy about dreams, wishes, and the prospect of witnessing a lifetime of hopes ultimately realized.

The music, for its part, is thoroughly embraced by Marlowe in its theatricality. A baritone voice is accompanied by dense orchestration, providing a broad, dramatic sound that seems to be his natural habitat in musical theatre. Another layer of the powerful Halloween vibe provides the track with one of its clearest seasonal feels without losing what makes the song work emotionally.