Cast Set For Audible Theater's World Premiere of DEAD OUTLAW, From the Team Behind THE BAND'S VISIT

Full casting has been announced for Audible Theater's upcoming world premiere musical Dead Outlaw, with music & lyrics by Tony Award winner David Yazbek (The Band’s Visit, Tootsie) & Erik Della Penna, book by Tony Award winner Itamar Moses (The Band’s Visit), conceived by David Yazbek, and directed by Tony Award winner David Cromer (The Band’s Visit, The Sound Inside, Prayer for the French Republic).

 Dead Outlaw begins previews on Wednesday, February 28 ahead of a Sunday, March 10 opening night at Audible’s Minetta Lane Theatre (18 Minetta Lane, between MacDougal & 6th Avenue – one block south of W. 3rd Street), Audible’s creative home for live performances in New York. This limited engagement runs through Sunday, April 7 only. The musical will also be recorded and released on Audible at a later date, extending its reach to millions of listeners around the world.

Dead Outlaw’s cast will feature Jeb Brown, Eddie Cooper, Andrew Durand, Dashiell Eaves, Julia Knitel, Ken Marks, Trent Saunders, and Thom Sesma.  Understudies include Emily Fink, Austin Ku, George Merrick, and Max Sangerman.

The creative team for Dead Outlaw includes Ani Taj (movement direction), Dean Sharenow (music supervisor), Arnulfo Maldonado (scenic design), Sarah Laux (costume design), Heather Gilbert (lighting design), Kai Harada & Josh Millican (sound design), Isabella Curry (soundscape composition), Rebekah Bruce (music director), Erik Della Penna, Dean Sharenow, & David Yazbek (orchestrations), Faye Armon-Troncoso (properties), and Cynthia Cahill (production stage manager), with casting by Tara Rubin Casting, Peter Van Dam, CSA. Technical supervision is by Hudson Theatrical Associates’ Sean Gorski with general management by Baseline Theatrical’s Jonathan Whitton.

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. 

David Yazbek, haunted by this true story for thirty years, told his friend and bandmate Erik Della Penna the story, and as the two of them discussed why this tale of money, ambition, fame, memory and death was so compelling, they started writing songs for a stage-piece based on this odd life and these universal yet somehow very American themes. Realizing they were onto something as unique and challenging as anything they’d heard or written before, they approached Yazbek’s The Band’s Visit collaborators Itamar Moses and David Cromer, who quickly became haunted and charmed by Elmer’s story. You will too.

TICKETING INFORMATION

Tickets are on sale beginning today for Audible members. The pre-sale period runs through Thursday, January 11 at 11:59pm ET.

Beginning Friday, January 12 at 12:00pm ET, single tickets are on sale to the general public at DeadOutlawMusical.com.

For all performances the first week of previews, ten tickets priced at $19.11 – the year of Elmer McCurdy’s death – will be available for purchase online and at the box-office while supplies last.

Audible Theater is proud to collaborate with TodayTix to offer $25 mobile rush tickets beginning at 9am each performance day. Tickets will be available on a first-come, first-served basis exclusively through the TodayTix app.

BIOGRAPHIES

Jeb Brown. Recently appeared in City Center’s revival of Pal Joey. Broadway and Off-Broadway favorites: Beautiful; Ring of Fire; Scotland PA; The Undeniable Sound of Right Now. Favorites onscreen: Little America; The Namesake; The Path; Neon Joe: Werewolf Hunter. Founded LA’s Evidence Room Theatre Project; sang with Yale Whiffenpoofs.

Eddie Cooper. Broadway: PARADE. Encores! Off Center: PARADE, Promenade, Assassins, God Bless You Mr. Rosewater, Little Shop of Horrors. Classic Stage Company: I Can Get It For Your Wholesale, Assassins, The Cradle Will Rock and The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui. Atlantic Theater Company: This Ain't No Disco. Carnegie Hall: Anyone Can Whistle. A familiar face on screen, Eddie is a proud grad of LAG Arts and Ithaca College. @MrEddieCooper

Andrew Durand. Broadway: Shucked (Grammy, Drama Desk nominations), Ink, Head Over Heels, War Horse, Spring Awakening. West End: The Umbrellas of Cherbourg. Select Off-Broadway: The Robber Bridegroom (Roundabout). Television: CBS' “Madam Secretary” (Guest Star), “NCIS New Orleans” (Guest Star), NBC’s “Law and Order: Organized Crime” (Guest Star). Apple TV: “Servant” (Recurring Guest). Film: One December Night, Here Today.

Dashiell Eaves. Broadway: A Christmas Carol; A Time To Kill; A Behanding In Spokane; Coram Boy; The Lieutenant of Inishmore; James Joyce’s The Dead; 1776; The Sound of Music. Off-Broadway: Signature, LCT3, Atlantic, Playwrights Horizons, 2nd Stage, Rattlestick, etc. STOMP (original US cast). TV: “The Blacklist,” “Dr. Death,” “Mindhunter,” “Gotham,” “Limitless,” “Blue Bloods,” “Law & Order: SVU,” “The Good Wife,” “Law & Order: Criminal Intent.” Instagram @dashielleaves.

Julia Knitel. Broadway: Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, Bye Bye Birdie. 1st National: Beautiful (Carole King), Come From Away (Janice). Off Broadway: A Letter to Harvey Milk (Lortel nom), The Panic of ‘29. Select Regional: Gypsy (The Muny - St Louis Theatre Circle nom), The Constant Wife (Denver Center), The Producers (Casa Mañana). TV/Film: “The Other Two”, Miles. 

Ken Marks. Broadway: Take Me Out (Skipper), Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark (Uncle Ben), Airline Highway, Spring Awakening, Rock N’Roll, Hairspray (Wilbur Turnblad), After the Fall, Mamma Mia (OBC), Present Laughter and Dancing at Lughnasa. Off-Broadway: The Colonel in Father Comes Home from the Wars (Public Theater), Bethany (Women’s Project), Editor Webb in Our Town (Barrow Street), Stage Kiss (Playwrights Horizons), Orson’s Shadow (Barrow Street) and Stuff Happens (Public Theater). His TV credits include recurring roles on Elementary, The Exorcist, Life on Mars, and The Tick, and guest stars on Billions, Blue Bloods, The Good Wife, Madam Secretary and various Law & Order episodes. Ken’s film credits include The Confession, The Wackness, Step-Up 3D, Kelly & Cal, Henry’s Crime and Blood Stripe.

Trent Saunders. Broadway: Hadestown, Aladdin OBC). London: Evita (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre). National Tour: American Idiot. Selected Regional: Joy (World Premiere at George Street Playhouse), Godspell, The Rocky Horror Show. Check out Spectra Theater for more on what he’s working on. @trensaun

Thom Sesma. Recent credits: Oliver! (Encores), Double Helix (Bay Street Theatre), Sister Act (The MUNY). Other credits include A Man of No Importance (Classic Stage Company), Letters of Suresh (Second Stage - Lortel Award nomination), Unknown Soldier (Playwrights Horizons), Ghosts (Williamstown/Seattle Rep) and numerous television appearances. For complete details, visit thomsesma.com. Instagram: @thsesma.

Emily Fink (Understudy). Off-Broadway Debut! Regional: Maria in The Sound of Music, Julia in Bandstand, Joanna in Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?. BFA CCM. Playwright of Falling Forward (O’Neill semi-finalist). www.emilyfink.net @emilycelestefink

Austin Ku (Understudy). Austin Ku is a Grammy-nominated new works enthusiast. Notable credits include Soft Power at The Public Theater, Pacific Overtures with George Takei at Classic Stage Company, the Broadway Tour of Chinglish, the streaming Take Me to the World: A Sondheim 90th Birthday Celebration and Netflix’s Inventing Anna. www.Austin-Ku.com  / @secretaustinman.

George Merrick (Understudy). Broadway: Honeymoon in Vegas, South Pacific, High Fidelity. Off Bway: The Bedwetter (Atlantic), Judgment Day (Park Ave Armory) Clever Little Lies (West Side Theatre). TV: Fosse/Verdon, Blue Bloods, The Blacklist, Rise, Madame Secretary. George is a Composer/Lyricist in the BMI Musical Theater Workshop (Harrington Award recipient).

Max Sangerman (Understudy).  Broadway: A Beautiful Noise. Off Broadway: Smokey Joe’s Cafe, Blue Man Group (Blue Man).

David Yazbek (Music & Lyrics; Conceived By) Tony, Emmy and Grammy winning composer/writer David Yazbek is also a performer and recording artist with 5 solo albums released. His path from his first gig as a TV gag writer to his current position as one of Broadway’s preeminent composers has been full of twists and turns but always has centered on music, humor, and an attempt at a deep connection with audiences and collaborators. He has been haunted by the story of Elmer McCurdy, the Dead Outlaw, since hearing it for the first time 30 years ago. He’s very pleased to be telling it with this great team of artists. Some Credits: Broadway: music and lyrics for The Band’s Visit (Tony Award Best Score), Tootsie, Women On The Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, The Full Monty. Music for Larry David’s Fish In The Dark. Yazbek is a Producer/Creative Consultant on the recent hit musical Buena Vista Social Club currently running at the Atlantic Theater. Albums: Solo albums include The Laughing Man, Tock, Damascus!, Tape Recorder, Evil Monkey Man. He is currently completing a new album and continues to perform with his band. The New York Times called him “a daredevil juggler catching spiked pins in the traveling carnival of his imagination.” He has co-produced all of his cast albums including The Band’s Visit (Grammy Award). TV and Film: “Boardwalk Empire,” “Late Night with David Letterman” (Emmy Award Best Writing), hundreds of songs, including the infamous Carmen Sandiego Theme. Dozens of scripts for episodic TV. In the works are a new musical with Jeffrey Lane, a Dead Outlaw documentary film, an animated feature film for 2024 and eventually a new solo album.

Erik Della Penna (Music & Lyrics) is a composer, lyricist, and guitarist who has appeared on over 60 rock, pop, and Americana albums. He has toured and recorded extensively with Joan Osborne, Natalie Merchant, and Joan Baez and has worked with legendary music producer T-Bone Burnett. He has recorded seven albums of original songs with Kill Henry Sugar, his “metropolitan folk duo” with Dead Outlaw music supervisor Dean Sharenow. Erik is one of the primary songwriters and provides vocals, guitar, and banjo for Hazmat Modine, a band that The New York Times called a “category-defying blues-rooted group that can swerve into New Orleans brass-band, jazz, and ska.” Erik has written two children’s musicals—Toby and the Big Top, produced by Walden Media, and Kitty Hawk, which is regularly produced at the Adrienne Arsht Center. He also wrote the score for the documentary, Tree Man on Netflix, and contributed songs for many other documentaries and television shows. It was during a recording session for David Yazbek that David first told Erik the strange story of Elmer McCurdy, and Erik found himself morbidly engaged by it. The songs of Dead Outlaw are the result of their long reflection on death, fame, and the aberrations of America. 

Itamar Moses (Book) is the Tony Award-winning author of the full-length plays Outrage, Bach At Leipzig, The Four of Us, Celebrity Row, Back Back Back, Yellowjackets, Completeness, The Whistleblower, and The Ally, the short play collection Love/Stories and the musicals Nobody Loves You (with Gaby Alter), Fortress Of Solitude (with Michael Friedman), The Band’s Visit (with David Yazbek), and An American Tail (with Michael Mahler and Alan Schmuckler). Other awards for his work include Lucille Lortel, New York Drama Critics Circle, Outer Critics Circle, and Obie awards in New York, as well as awards from the Portland, San Diego, Dallas, and Bay Area Theatre Critics Circles. Television work includes “Men of a Certain Age,” “Boardwalk Empire,” and “The Affair.” He is a proud member of the Dramatists’ Guild and the Writer’s Guild of America East. Born in Berkeley, CA, he now lives in Brooklyn, NY.

Dean Sharenow (Music Supervision) is a Grammy-winning record producer/engineer. Broadway: Girl From the North Country, The Band’s Visit, Tootsie, The Cher Show, The Last Ship, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown. Off-Broadway: Buena Vista Social Club, The Bedwetter, The Total Bent, Fortress of Solitude. Album producer/engineer: Stephen Ulrich, Mamie Minch, Girl From the North Country, Oklahoma! (2019), Tootsie, The Band’s Visit, The Great Comet…, Women on the Verge…, and Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson.

ANI TAJ (Movement Direction) is a choreographer working from the premise that dance can actually be liberatory and FUN. Recent thrills include an apocalyptic movie musical starring Tilda Swinton (co-choreographed with Sam Pinkleton), dance club experiences for Virgin Voyages, Hedwig (Olney Theatre), Runaways (Delacorte), and 10 years with The Dance Cartel. TDC highlights include PS1/MoMA, Storm King, Brooklyn Museum, the High Line, Ace Hotel NY, Oberon (ART); CONAN; The Late Late Show; music videos for Yoko Ono, Reggie Watts, Vic Mensa; VR experience Runnin (Sundance, SXSW). @anitaj

David Cromer (Director) most recently directed Prayer for the French Republic. New York credits include Camp Siegfried, A Case for the Existence of God, The Sound Inside, The Band’s Visit, The Treasurer, The House of Blue Leaves, Brighton Beach Memoirs, Nikolai and the Others, The Effect, When the Rain Stops Falling, Tribes, Adding Machine, Our Town, and Orson’s Shadow. For his work he has received a Tony Award, a Drama Desk, three Obies, three Lortels, and in 2010 he was named a MacArthur Foundation fellow.