Death is hanging over the air on Broadway these days. Yet somehow, it has an air of cool about it. At the Lunt-Fontanne, two divas are dishing and dueling their way to eternal life in the smash hit musical comedy Death Becomes Her.
Meanwhile, British forces are thwarting German troops in World War II with a dead man at the Golden Theatre in the British tuner Operation Mincemeat.
And, After a well-received production Off Broadway last year, book writer Itamar Moses and composer/lyricists David Yazbek and Erik Della Penna have relocated the story of their cowboy corpse to the main stem with Dead Outlaw.
Dead Outlaw might be the strangest musical to hit Broadway in quite some time, but it’s also the most entertaining. It’s also, remarkably, true. Elmer McCurdy (Andrew Durand) was a respectable kid from Maine, but after learning he was adopted during an economic downturn at the turn of the twentieth century, his life spirals into alcoholism and violence and, eventually, into a life of crime.
The problem is that McCurdy isn’t a wit with explosives and fails to successfully execute a number of train robberies. Ultimately (and without revealing any major plot spoilers) McCurdy is shot dead by police.
Moses’ tale tracks McCurdy’s deceased unclaimed body from the back of a funeral parlor to a general store attraction and six decades of subsequently being passed around for commercial use.
This modest but powerful story is delivered by a tidy cast of eight, each of whom — apart from Durand — play multiple roles.
Thom Sesma delivers the darkest laughs as Coroner Noguchi, a lounge-lizard crooner who recalls the celebrities that have graced his slab in the show’s best number, “Up to the Stars.”
Dead Outlaw shouldn’t just be a morality tale about how some individuals in society fall through the cracks, but it should also be a template for musical theater writers aspiring to craft a tightly knit story equal parts smart and hilarious.
The Tony Award nominations were recently announced and Dead Outlaw clinched seven. Early predictions suggest that it will provide some stiff competition on the big night.
Dead Outlaw (★★★★★) is playing through June 15 at the Longacre Theatre, 220 West 48th St. in New York City. Tickets are $48 to $321. Visit www.deadoutlawmusical.com.
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