'Ghost Brothers of Darkland County' is one spooky musical
by Michael Morain
Ready for this? A spooky new musical hits Iowa next weekend with songs by John Mellencamp and a story by Stephen King.
You read that right. And for effect, you should read the rest of this little article aloud in the dark, with a flashlight held under your chin.
Mellencamp and King started working on “Ghost Brothers of Darkland County” about 13 years ago (ooh! 13!), when the rocker told the writer a real-life story about a family from his home state of Indiana. Mellencamp asked if King would turn it into a play, and he did, leaving in pockets for music. The pair worked back-and-forth from there, although neither actually performs in the show.
They eventually settled on the format of an old-time radio show, with a cast of costumed actors taking turns at the microphones while a sound-effects team rattles chains and crinkles cellophane “flames” at a table nearby. The lighting is dramatic; the set is spare.
“It’s not about the physical environment. It’s about the environment of souls. It’s Stephen between your ears that’s the most powerful,” said the know-him-when-you-see-him film actor Bruce Greenwood (“Flight,” “Star Trek Into Darkness”).
Greenwood stars as a middle-aged guy named Joe, whose sons are fighting over a woman. He fears they’re heading down the same path that led to the long-ago deaths of his two older brothers, whose ghosts — wouldn’t you know it? — show up at the family’s cabin in the sticks.
The show premiered Wednesday in Bloomington, Ind., and is touring the Midwest through Nov. 6. The album, produced by musical director T-Bone Burnett, came out in June with recordings by Sheryl Crow, Roseanne Cash, Neko Case, Elvis Costello, Kris Kristofferson and Mellencamp himself.
His songs have always been “these brilliant character studies,” stage director Susan Booth said, and the new ones “are among his best.
“And understand, I’m a longtime fan. I must sing them in my sleep, they’re so embedded.”
The show’s future depends on its success on the tour. It may or may not head to Broadway.
But it’s probably a step up from King’s first play, which he wrote for his Boy Scout troop when he was 11. His parents gave it favorable reviews.
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20131027/ENT01/310270008/?nclick_check=1
