‘The Band’s Visit’ Writers Set New Project: ‘Dead Outlaw’ Musical Based On Bizarre True Story Of Carnival Corpse
deadline.comEXCLUSIVE: The strange, true-life story of Elmer McCurdy, a turn-of-the-20th Century train robber whose corpse became a carnival attraction and unwitting stage prop well into the 1970s, will be adapted into a musical by the writers of Broadway’s acclaimed The Band’s Visit.The new theater piece, titled Dead Outlaw, will feature music and lyrics by David Yazbek and Erik Della Penna, with a book by Itamar Moses.
The project marks the first reteaming of Yasbek and Moses since their multiple-Tony-winning The Band’s Visit, which made its Broadway debut in 2017.Yazbek and Della Penna have composed 14-songs for Dead Outlaw, and a premiere presentation is scheduled for March 14 at the Manhattan venue 54 Below.Elmer J.
McCurdy was a bank and trainer robber in the late 19th and early 20th centuries who died in a 1911 shoot-out with police in Oklahoma.
His corpse was mummified and displayed at a funeral home and then became a carnival and sideshow attraction from the 1920s through the 1960s.
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