Good and Dead: David Yazbek & Erik Della Penna Unpack the Music of DEAD OUTLAW

What goes into making the music of our favorite Broadway shows? How do Broadway composers make our favorite characters sing and our favorite scenes come alive? BroadwayWorld is finding out with Notes on a Score.

Today we continue the series with the creators of one of Broadway's most anticipated new musicals, Dead Outlaw- David Yazbek and Erik Della Penna. They recently sat down with BroadwayWorld at A.R.T./New York to unpack the show's opening number, "Dead".

"The story has everything that was fascinating me, still fascinates me, and fascinates a lot of people- greed, fame, death, crime... it's just the weirdest American story," explained Yazbek. Performed in the musical by Jeb Brown, the song begins...

"You're born with nothing
Your cheeks are apple dumplings.
The air, the water,
There's something more you wanted.
The milk the sugar,
Inside you there's a name
But you came with nothin'...
You'll leave here just the same.

"I think this is an important song both to tell you what the tone musically is gonna be, and tonally what the speed of the show will be- it's soft and quite sometimes and fast and loud sometimes- and most importantly it puts the audiences in the right frame of mind to accept what we're giving them."

Dead Outlaw marks Yazbek's tenth Broadway project (sixth new musical featuring both his music and lyrics) and he is quick to admit that it took him 25 years to feel comfortable enough to write a musical based on this original concept- one he hopes audiences will just die over.  

"We're setting the audience up for everything they need to know about this show," he continued. "We're doing it in a way that hopefully they are stomping their feet at the same time. You're gonna die! It's all vapor. Let's have a f***ing great time."

Dead Outlaw will begin Broadway previews on April 12 and will open at the Longacre Theatre on April 27. View the full 2025 Spring Preview!