King & Mellencamp's GHOST BROTHERS OF DARKLAND COUNTY Resurrected; Cash, Kristofferson et al. Set for Alliance Opening, Sept. 2010?

Ghost Brothers of Darkland County, a musical written by novelist Stephen King with original music written by rock musician John Mellencamp, will get a new lease on life, it seems. The musical was set to premiere at the ALLIANCE THEATRE in Atlanta, Georgia from April 15 through May 10, 2009, but script development issues suspended the premiere.  Nashville Gab and thatnashvillesound.com are now reporting that the musical will now debut at the Alliance in September 2010, with A book and CD recording of the songs published prior to its opening.

The project was first announced by Billboard in 2000. At that time, the title was Mississippi Ghost Brothers. According to King, Mellencamp came up with the plot.

In August 2001, it was reported by the Associated Press that the musical would be finished by February 2002. In 2005, Mellencamp said in an interview, "He's got a hundred pages of dialogue, and I've got 15 songs. We have to figure how to cut it all down. We're having our first run-through in New York with actors and actresses to see what the hell it looks like."

Says Mellencamp of the plot, "I can tell what it's not going to be like: It won't be Jack and Diane meets Cujo. He's already written the story- it's very beautiful, more like The Green Mile. It's an American story about an American family. Some of the characters are 100 years old, some are 15. So that will give me the opportunity to write for each character in a different style. I ain't writing a bunch of rock songs."

He would later comment: "[It's about] two brothers; they're 19 years old or 20, maybe 18 or 21, who are very competitive and dislike each other immensely. The father takes them to the family vacation place, a cabin that the boys hadn't been to since they were kids. What has happened is that the father had two older brothers who hated each other and killed each other in that cabin There's a confederacy of ghosts who also live in this house. The older [dead] brothers are there, and they speak to the audience, and they sing to the audience. That's all I want to say, except through this family vacation, many things are learned about the family, and many interesting songs are sung."

The play, which according to Mellencamp will have a Tennessee Williams feel, takes place in the fictional town of Lake Belle Reve, Missisippi. 

According to interviews, Mellencamp has written about 20 songs for the production. 

The early feedback for the production has been strong.  Esquire Magazine's Ryan D'Agostino, who sat in on a New York rehearsal of Ghost Brothers of Darkland County in the fall of 2007 commented: "Musicals aren't usually a guy thing. This one, though, is not only tolerable, it's good. It may be the first-ever musical written by men for men. There's no orchestra, just two twangy acoustic guitars, an accordion, and a fiddle. The songs are both haunting and all-American."

That Nashville Sound writes that the CD/book package to be released prior to the September 2010 opening at the Alliance will feature major artists performing Mellencamp's songs for the show. Rolling Stone reports that Elvis Costello and Neko Case are among the contributing artists. It was later learned that Kris Kristofferson, Sheryl Crow, and Roseanne Cash will also contribute. The album will be produced by T-Bone Burnett.

Production of this CD project began in June 2009.

On the Album:
Kris Kristofferson as Joe
Elvis Costello as The Shape
Roseanne Cash as Monique
Will Dailey as Frank
Dave Alvin as Jack
Phil Alvin as Andy
John Mellencamp as Drake
Sheryl Crow as Jenna
Neko Case as Anna
Joe Frazier as Dan Coker
Stephen King as Uncle Steve
Glenn Morshower as Narrator

For more information, visit http://www.mellencamp.com/.

 

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