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John
Suspense has surrounded "Ghost Brothers of Darkland County," the Stephen King-John Mellencamp musical that the Alliance Theatre announced for the 2008-09 season, then promptly delayed. But the on-then-off-then-oft-rumored world premiere is officially back on again, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has learned.
Atlanta's biggest theater, which announced only the first part of its 2011-12 season earlier this month, saved a big surprise for Wednesday's announcement of the second half, carried exclusively in the AJC, including "Ghost Brothers" among its final four plays.
The King-Mellencamp collaboration, with musical direction by renowned producer T-Bone Burnett ("O Brother, Where Art Thou?"), will close the Alliance main stage season in spring 2012. Alliance artistic director Susan V. Booth will direct. That, too, is a surprise if you believe Web sites such as Liljas Library: The World of Stephen King (www.liljas-library.com), which has quoted Mellencamp as saying that Swedish actress Liv Ullmann would helm it.
The Alliance describes the show as a "Southern Gothic musical fraught with mystery, tragedy and ghosts of the past."
The fate of the show itself has been a bit of a mystery. When it was delayed in May 2008, Booth said in an Alliance statement that the creative team was "in agreement with the evolution of the new work-in-progress and the direction it was moving in development" but realized that "the script would not be ready by spring 2009."
There were numerous online reports that the musical would be part of the Alliance's 2010-11 season. But then it wasn't included in the lineup announced in February 2010, and the Alliance had nothing to say officially then on the show's prospects.
"The Alliance one time previously – and one time only – announced this show," theater spokesman Terry Sagedy said Tuesday. "The postponement at that time was due to the challenges of delivering revisions in time for the scheduled production dates.
"Obviously, with a creative team of this stature, there’s a lot of attention and speculation," he continued. "Fact is, we’re going forward with the piece’s premiere at the Alliance in 2012."
Sagedy added that Booth, as the director, had given input on the script.
Ghost Brothers of Darkland County
Music and Lyrics by John Mellencamp
Book by Stephen King
Directed by Susan V. Booth
Music Direction by T Bone Burnett
n keeping with the Alliance’s tradition of producing new American musicals, the company will produce the world premiere of Ghost Brothers of Darkland County, a chilling new musical with music and lyrics by John Mellencamp and book by Stephen King, as the closing show of the Alliance Stage Series season set for spring, 2012. Based on a true story, one of the world's most popular authors and one of America’s most honored musicians have created a riveting Southern gothic musical fraught with mystery, tragedy, and ghosts of the past, along with a roots and blues-tinged score that is sure to leave audiences asking for more. Alliance Artistic Director Susan V. Booth directs, with musical direction provided by legendary producer T Bone Burnett.
In the tiny town of Lake Belle Reve, Mississippi in 1957, a terrible tragedy took the lives of two brothers and a beautiful young girl. During the next forty years, the events of that night became the stuff of local legend. But legend is often just another word for lie. Joe McCandless knows what really happened; he saw it all. The question is whether or not he can bring himself to tell the truth in time to save his own troubled sons, and whether the ghosts left behind by an act of violence will help him – or tear the McCandless family apart forever.
April 4 – May 13
The musical, based on a legend about the deaths of two brothers and a girl at a rural cabin, was originally scheduled to debut at Atlanta's Alliance Theatre two years ago, but was postponed.
King says Mellencamp and the play's director weren't getting along. The new director is Susan Booth.
King says Mellencamp wanted it set in the South because he admires Tennessee Williams. King says that worked for him because he'd been reading William Faulkner novels.
He says the play, which opens next April, was designed for a small stage, small cast and small technical requirements, "sort of the anti-Spiderman."
AP wire story
With the director:
>>> Source
Featuring music and lyrics by Mellencamp and a book by King, Ghost Brothers of Darkland County centers on the story of a 1957 tragedy that haunts a small Mississippi town. The show is billed as "a Southern gothic tale fraught with mystery, tragedy and ghosts of the past."
The cast also features Lucas Kavner, Kate Ferber, Christopher Morgan, country musician Dale Westin as well as Peter Albrink, Kylie Brown, Lori Beth Edgeman, Gwen Hughes, Joe Jung, Joe Knezevich, Rob Lawhon, Royce Mann and Travis Smith.
Ghost Brothers of Darkland County will feature scenic design by Todd Rosenthal, choreography by Daniel Pelzig, costume design by Susan E. Mickey, lighting design by Robert Wierzel, media design by Adam Larsen and sound design by Clay Benning.
The show, which was first announced in 2001, was originally slated to be part of Atlanta’s Alliance Theater’s 2008-2009 season. Liv Ullman had previously been attached as director. A recording of the musical featuring Kris Kristofferson, Elvis Costello, Roseanne Cash, Neko Case, Sheryl Crow and Mellencamp was also announced for release in 2010, but never came to fruition.
>>> Source
John Mellencamp and Stephen King’s dramatic “roots musical,” in the works for more than a decade, will finally debut this spring. Ghost Brothers of Darkland County debuts as a theatrical presdentation beginning April 4 in Atlanta; a guest star-packed studio concept album will follow on May 22, via Hear Music, in both a single disc and 3-CD deluxe edition.
Elvis Costello, Rosanne Cash, Kris Kristofferson, Sheryl Crow, Taj Mahal and Neko Case are set to sing on the project, with Matthew McConaughey, Meg Ryan, former boxer Joe Frazier and Costello doing readings, as well. Both projects are produced with the input of producer T-Bone Burnett — who described the sound as “dark, foggy … and scary.”
The novelist King authored the narrative, while veteran singer-songwriter Mellencamp added music and lyrics. “It sounds like the Sgt. Pepper of Americana to me,” Mellencamp said in pre-release materials, adding that the goal was to make the recording sound something like “an old radio play” complete with dialogue and sound effects.
Other musicians who worked on the project include Dave Alvin, Phil Alvin and Will Dailey.
-justin