Elmer McCurdy was an ambitious, turn-of-the-20th-century outlaw whose death at the hands of a Western posse ended a life of failed crime and alcoholism and began a brilliant career as a mummified side-show attraction that travelled the USA for decades. By the time this journey ended, his name had been forgotten and his desiccated body was hanging in a house-of-horrors ride at an amusement park in Southern California, spray-painted a day-glo orange. Then one day, a grip for the “Six-Million Dollar Man” TV show jostled what he thought was “just a dummy” and an arm fell off, revealing a human bone and beginning a hunt for the origins of this enigma.
Yet however moved you may be by the social commentary or softer moments contained in “Dead Outlaw,” the show’s boisterous, irrepressible irreverence toward that bleakest of subjects is its main selling point. In a catchy romp titled simply “Dead,” Messrs. Brown and Della Penna giddily sing, “Your mama’s dead/Your daddy’s dead/Whole family’s dead/And so are you” — and then proceed, in their first round and in reprises sprinkled through the show, to cite famous figures ranging from Balzac to Abe Lincoln to Glenn Gould and Tupac Shakur, eventually nodding to living celebrities, just for the heck of it.
A blockbuster cast of eight and a powerhouse five-piece band deliver it with full-blown mastery and full-out commitment, with not a single weak link among them, as they transition fluidly from scene to scene, character to character, gallows humor to tragic pathos, sensitive ballad to psychobilly and country-western to Vegas lounge-act musical stylings.
2024 | Off-Broadway |
Audible Off-Broadway Premiere Production Off-Broadway |
Year | Ceremony | Category | Nominee |
---|---|---|---|
2024 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Book of a Musical | Itamar Moses |
2024 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Direction of a Musical | David Cromer |
2024 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Featured Performance in a Musical | Thom Sesma |
2024 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Lead Performance in a Musical | Andrew Durand |
2024 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Lighting Design of a Musical | Heather Gilbert |
2024 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Lyrics | David Yazbek |
2024 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Music | David Yazbek |
2024 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Musical | Dead Outlaw |
2024 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Orchestrations | Erik Della Penna |
2024 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Scenic Design of a Musical | Arnulfo Maldonado |
2024 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Sound Design of a Musical | Kai Harada |
2024 | Drama League Awards | Outstanding Direction of a Musical | David Cromer |
2024 | Drama League Awards | Outstanding Production of a Musical | Dead Outlaw |
2024 | New York Drama Critics Circle Awards | Best Musical | Itamar Moses |
2024 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Book of a Musical (Broadway or Off-Broadway) | Itamar Moses |
2024 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Direction of a Musical (Broadway or Off-Broadway) | David Cromer |
2024 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Featured Performer in an Off-Broadway Musical | Thom Sesma |
2024 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Featured Performer in an Off-Broadway Musical | Julia Knitel |
2024 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Lead Performer in an Off-Broadway Musical | Andrew Durand |
2024 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Lead Performer in an Off-Broadway Musical | Jeb Brown |
2024 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding New Off-Broadway Musical | Dead Outlaw |
2024 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Orchestrations (Broadway or Off-Broadway) | Erik Della Penna |
2024 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Score (Broadway or Off-Broadway) | David Yazbek |
2024 | The Lortels | Outstanding Director | David Cromer |
2024 | The Lortels | Outstanding Featured Performer in a Musical | Thom Sesma |
2024 | The Lortels | Outstanding Lead Performer in a Musical | Andrew Durand |
2024 | The Lortels | Outstanding Lead Performer in a Musical | Jeb Brown |
2024 | The Lortels | Outstanding Musical | Dead Outlaw |
2024 | The Lortels | Outstanding Scenic Design | Arnulfo Maldonado |
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