Stephen King on Bringing New Supernatural Musical GHOST BROTHERS OF DARKLAND COUNTY to Broadway

In a new interview with Billboard, author Stephen King speaks about his new southern gothic supernatural musical GHOST BROTHERS OF DARKLAND COUNTY, which he worked on alongside creative partner John Mellencamp for over 10 years.

""I don't think either of us realized what an involved process making a play is," says the 67-year-old. "I think of it like the Russian politburo. You have to go through a lot of hoops to get funding. Certain union rules you have to follow -- don't ask me what they are."

The best-selling scribe also revealed that he is in no rush to turn his show into a big-time production for the Broadway stage. "We looked at shows like The Lion King, how big they were, and said, 'Is this what we want?", he shared. "After all John and I have been through on this show, if a bunch of angels said, 'We want to put this on Broadway with special effects and a big band,' we would probably say, 'F-- off.' No cat suits."

Read the interview in full here

About GHOST BROTHERS OF DARKLAND COUNTY:

The southern gothic, supernatural musical Ghost Brothers of Darkland County is touring across North America this fall. Written by celebrated suspense author Stephen King, with music by Grammy Award-winning John Mellencamp and produced by Grammy and Academy Award-winning T-Bone Burnett, the tour will hit 18 cities, including a stop at New York City's Beacon Theatre tonight, November 24.

This extraordinary collaboration, 13 years in the making, is A Haunting tale of fraternal love, lust, JEALOUSY and revenge, performed by an ensemble cast of 15 actors and a four-piece live band, comprised of members of John Mellencamp's band. The staging of Ghost Brothers is an amalgam of different styles - both old fashioned, resembling an old-style radio show, and yet, modern and unique in its interactive use of storytelling, music and singing to move the macabre Ghost Brothers story forward.

After Mellencamp brought the story idea to King and the musical developed, it became clear to the collaborators that Ghost Brothers had taken them into unfamiliar territory - and they liked it that way. "John can make rock & roll records and I can write books for the rest of our lives," says King, "but that's the safe way to do it, and that's no way to live if you want to stay creative. We were willing to be educated, and at our age, that's an accomplishment." Eventually they Enlisted T-Bone Burnett, who has produced Mellencamp's music since 2008, as well as Grammy-winning albums like "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" and the Robert Plant-Alison Krauss collaboration "Raising Sand", to bring his signature shadowy ambience to the music.

The production takes the audience on A Haunting tale filled with fraternal love, lust, jealousy, and revenge. The story goes that Joe McCandless saw his two older brothers battle over a girl which ended in the unfortunate deaths of all three. Now as an adult, with two boys of his own, he's watching an all too similar scenario play out before his eyes. Only one person knows exactly what happened the night of the tragedy.

As the story continues, a malevolent Shape circles the stage, singing about heaven and hell. Joe McCandless lingers in the Dream-land café, remembering the events of his life, and is urged to action by the friendly bartender. In 2007, he goes to his family cabin in Darkland County, Mississippi, where his brothers died in 1967, to tell his own sons Frank and Drake his tale of brotherly love GONE sour. With his sons at each other's throats, Joe's story will save or destroy the McCandless family. Will Joe bring himself to tell the truth in time to save his own sons? Find out whether the ghosts LEFT BEHIND will help him-or tear the McCandless family apart forever.

Throughout the production, the eerie blues 'n' roots music reveals the inner workings of the characters as opposed to just propelling the play's narrative, with the only a few songs directly advancing the plot. Acclaimed director Susan Booth, who calls the musical a "a kind of new age travelling medicine show" explains, "I want the emphasis to be on this fantastic score and our great singers and how the story advances us from song to song. In most musicals, the songs advance the narrative. With Ghost Brothers, the story will advance the songs."

For additional information, visit www.ghostbrothersofdarklandcounty.com.

REMAINING NORTH AMERICAN TOUR DATES:
Nov 24 New York, NY Beacon Theatre* TONIGHT
Nov 26 Detroit, MI Fisher Theatre
Nov 28 Chicago, IL Chicago Oriental Theatre
Nov 29 St. Louis, MO Peabody Opera House
Dec 1 Denver, CO Temple Hoyne Buell Theatre
Dec 3 Phoenix, AZ Orpheum Theatre
Dec 4 Los Angeles, CA Saban Theatre
Dec 5 San Francisco, CA Curran Theatre