Dead Outlaw review

Dead Outlaw Review - Broadway musical

Review: Dead Outlaw on Broadway.

A Corpse, a Carnival, and a Legend Reborn.

“Dead Outlaw” doesn’t walk onto Broadway—it saunters, stiff and grinning, like the embalmed hero it resurrects. David Yazbek and Erik Della Penna’s musical, with a masterful book by Itamar Moses, is no ordinary historical dive. It’s a necro-cabaret that swerves between truth, myth, and morbid wonder with razor precision.

A Genre-Twisting Resurrection.

The story of Elmer McCurdy, a failed train robber turned sideshow mummy, becomes a surreal American parable. Think: “Sweeney Todd” meets “Assassins,” with a pinch of O Brother, Where Art Thou? But stranger.

Composer Yazbek, known for The Band’s Visit, again proves he can conjure entire emotional worlds with a few musical cues. From the lilting eeriness of “Nobody Knows Your Name” to the stomping, banjo-blasted “Blowin’ It Up,” the score spins like a player piano gone mad. Erik Della Penna’s instrumentation—a twangy, ghost-town Americana—adds grit and soul. It’s country noir with teeth.

Performances That Haunt.

Andrew Durand gives Elmer McCurdy a tragic glint. He’s charming, fumbling, desperate—a man who only becomes famous after death. Durand sings like a man trying to outrun fate.

Julia Knitel’s dual turn as Helen and Millicent feels ghostly and grounded. She brings fragile heat to “Millicent’s Song,” a quiet highlight of the show.

Jeb Brown, playing a crusty bandleader and fixer, is both hilarious and grim. He’s a carnival barker for America’s obsession with spectacle. You believe him because he scares you a little.

And then there’s Thom Sesma, who nearly steals the show as coroner Thomas Noguchi. He’s clinical, comic, and almost tender. In a musical about dead men, Sesma feels the most alive.

Design, Direction, and the Dead.

David Cromer’s direction is surgical and ghostly. He keeps the show’s weirdness from spiraling into farce, anchoring each beat with emotion.

Set designer Arnulfo Maldonado crafts a universe of faded red velvet and cracked mirrors. Heather Gilbert’s lighting glows like it’s powered by flickering kerosene. Every visual choice leans into the story’s dusty theatricality.

Critical Acclaim and Broadway Buzz.

The show earned praise across the board. Critics from Playbill called it “unexpectedly moving,” while The New York Times hailed it as “a mummy musical that shouldn’t work but does.” It won multiple Drama Desk Awards and is a frontrunner for several Tonys.

Audiences walk out stunned. Laughing. Shivering. Some with tears. No one leaves untouched.

Verdict: A Must-See Musical Oddity.

Dead Outlaw is strange. Eerie. Beautiful. It’s a corpse with a conscience. A satire with a soul.

See it before it dies. Again.

Last Update:May, 12th 2025