Dead Outlaw is a new musical, premiering in the 2023/2024 season at Minetta Lane Theatre which focuses on providing plays that translate well to audiobook, working in tandem with Audible. Dead Outlaw is the first musical to take up residency in this jointly owned space and was met with critical aclaim including a total of 11 Drama Desk nominations as well as 7 Outer Critic's Circle nominations. Dead Outlaw features lyrics and music written by David Yazbek and Erik Della Penna, as well as a book written by Itamar Moses.
What is it about?
We embark on this journey starting with a hauntingly intriguing visual description: A corpse painted boldly in red, dangling from the ceiling by a thick rope. His name: Elmer McCurdey and he was a a real-life outlaw in the American West. Before the discovery of his mummified remains at The Pike amusement zone in Long Beach, California in 1976 by a film crew, this being entirely factual, he was assumed to be a mannequin. A daunting decor piece for a thrill ride, seen for only a few seconds. His life as a mummy was arguably just as fascinating as his time alive and the musical: Dead Outlaw intends to prove it. The musical narrates his journey through life as well as through death. The latter being via his remains, all the while played out on stage by the brilliant Andrew Durand.
Elmer's early life is spent with less than positive circumstances. Violent outbursts, alcoholism, and vagrant turned downright criminal: were all descriptors of him prior to his untimely death. Yet we meet him, lying under the stars in Oklahoma, singing. A gentle reminder he is a human, and very much alive. The tone of the storytelling quickly shifts, juxtaposing the almost tender scene in which we meet Elmer.
As he grows in his journey he falls deeper into the trance of the capitalist desire for money, guns, and fame, he starts his deeply unsuccessful career. That is, robbing trains and banks. He is angry at his mother for leaving, his home life is a wreck, and he wants money. Our attention is subverted quickly from his mother to his desires. He wants it all, quick and easy. Elmer is after all, quite lazy and not very adept at blowing up safes despite his so-called training with nitroglycerine. Yet he tries time and time again, following similarly arched side quests that allow us to meet other characters in his life and expose his subsequent nuances and quirks. His incompetence is fully on display. In 1911 he is shot, when ultimately yet again, he fails to participate in the world of crime he has tried so desperately to ingrain himself within. This does not serve as the penultimate moment in his story but rather the moment in which the stakes are raised.
Elmer's body is left with a local coroner who fills it full of arsenic as a means of preservation. His body is left for days waiting to be claimed, but because of his actions in life, he has no next of kin and simply put: no one left. His rampage through personal affairs and treatment of those surrounding him left him utterly alone at the end. People in the town slowly start to hear whisperings of this so-called "dead outlaw" and natural curiosity runs rampant. They beg and plead to see him, after all, everybody loves a mummy, and this is the perfect money-making opportunity. All the coroner has to do is sit back and let the profits trickle in. Soon thereafter he begins his posthumous journey to fame. His embalmed remains are shuffled along from sideshow, to wax museum, to community events, and finally to a building within an amusement park in California, all over the span of approximately 60 years.
His life in death becomes a centerpiece for joy and excitement. And now? Now Elmer has an entire musical centered specifically on him!
What did you think?
Dead Outlaw launches a hilariously straightforward campaign to push the story of a real American outlaw and in doing so marries a seamless blend of pure talent and inventive storytelling. One of the things most appealing to me about Dead Outlaw is the creative team's ability to lean into the idea of utilizing a single more obscure concept to serve as primary source material. Many new works utilize a beloved or cult favorite source, to begin with a built-in following, yet Yazbek, Della Penna, and Moses conceived an expertly crafted narrative that stands completely on its own, from an obscure true story of the American West.
Dead Outlaw reunites the artistic duo that brought us The Bands Visit and it's undoubtedly a collaboration not to miss. With a six-piece band led by, Jeb Brown, who serves as our fearless narrator. Jeb leads us along, faithlessly, interjecting himself into the story as needed, and crafting the conversation in just a way that keeps the audience exactly where he'd like you. His narrative style pairs perfectly with the music written by Yazbek and Della Penna. The music is not the traditional musical theatre sound but a rock-type blend that leaves you looking for a cast album almost as soon as you exit the theatre.
In truth, I find this musical to be difficult to criticize, and perhaps that stands as a testament to its success. I had a wonderful time, learned a great deal of hyper-specific history, and was invested in the lives of the characters presented onstage. Dead Outlaw, was a breath of fresh air and highlights what good storytelling can do alongside showcasing a breadth of incredible artistry.
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