The complete company of Audible’s 2024 Off-Broadway mounting of “Dead Outlaw” will reprise their performances on Broadway. The previously announced musical, directed by David Cromer, will begin previews on April 12 and open on April 27 at the Longacre Theatre.
The cast of “Dead Outlaw” will include Andrew Durand as Elmer McCurdy and Thom Sesma as Coroner Noguchi, reprising roles that earned them 2024 Drama Desk Award nominations. The cast will also feature Jeb Brown as Band Leader/Jarrett, Eddie Cooper as Coroner Johnson, Dashiell Eaves as Louis/Charles Patterson, Julia Knitel as Helen/Maggie, Ken Marks as George and Trent Saunders as Andy Payne. Rounding out the cast will be understudies Emily Fink and Max Sangerman.
Also newly announced is the production’s complete creative team, which will include Tony Award-nominated scenic designer Arnulfo Maldonado, costume designer Sarah Laux, Tony-nominated lighting designer Heather Gilbert, Tony-winning sound designer Kai Harada, music supervisor Dean Sharenow, music director Rebekah Bruce, production stage manager Cynthia Cahill and choreographer Ani Taj, with orchestrations created by songwriters David Yazbek and Erik Della Penna with Sharenow.
Durand most recently appeared on Broadway in “Shucked.” Durand’s other credits include “Ink,” “Head Over Heels” and “War Horse.”
“Dead Outlaw” will mark Sesma’s return to the Main Stem after a nearly 20-year absence. Sesma’s résumé includes appearances in Broadway productions of “Man of La Mancha,” “Nick & Nora” and “La Cage aux Folles,” as well as Off-Broadway turns in “Sweeney Todd” and “A Man of No Importance.”
Brown made his Broadway debut in the 1974 revival of “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” and has since originated roles in “Ring of Fire,” “High Fidelity,” “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark” and “Beautiful.”
Cooper appeared in the 2023 Main Stem revival of “Parade” as well as Off-Broadway mountings of “Assassins” and “The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui.”
Eaves is known for Main Stem appearances in 2019’s “A Christmas Carol,” “The Lieutenant of Inishmore,” “James Joyce’s The Dead” and “The Sound of Music.”
Knitel played Carole King in the national tour of “Beautiful,” a role she understudied on Broadway. Knitel is a 2009 Jimmy Awards nominee, having been nominated in the program’s inaugural year.
Marks has appeared on Broadway in “Mamma Mia” and “Hairspray”; Saunders is an alum of “Aladdin” and “Hadestown.”
“Dead Outlaw” will mark the Broadway debut of Fink, who appeared on tour in “Les Misérables”; Sangerman returns to Broadway having previously appeared in “A Beautiful Noise.”
Casting is by Tara Rubin Casting and Peter Van Dam.
Featuring a book by Itamar Moses and a score by Yazbek and Della Penna, “Dead Outlaw” is inspired by the real life (and after life) of Elmer McCurdy (played by Durand), an outlaw who died in a shootout in 1911. McCurdy’s body posthumously finds adventures and celebrity that are more than it could have ever hoped for in life.
“Dead Outlaw” is being produced by Lia Vollack and Sonia Friedman Productions.
