‘Ghost Brothers of Darkland County’ coming to DPACOct. 30, 2014
Cliff Bellamy
“Ghost Brothers of Darkland County” is “a play with music” more than a traditional musical, with inspiration from authors such as Tennessee Williams, William Faulkner and Arthur Miller. The description comes from songwriter John Mellencamp, who collaborated with author Stephen King and music producer T Bone Burnett on the production, which comes to the Durham Performing Arts Center Nov. 14.
Mellencamp wrote the music and lyrics for the play. King wrote the book (he is credited as the librettist) and Burnett, who has produced recent Mellencamp recordings, is the musical director. Work on the production began 16 years ago. With the success of “Mamma Mia!,” Broadway producers had asked Mellencamp to adapt his songs to a musical, he said. He refused. “I have no interest in looking back. I have no interest in taking [his song] “Jack & Diane”… and fitting it into a phony baloney story,” he said.
He was willing to write new songs for the project. He happened to tell someone who, unknown to him, was Stephen King’s agent, that he would pursue the project “If I knew a guy like Stephen King.” The agent put him in touch with the author, and the musical began from there.
“Ghost Brothers of Darkland County” was inspired by a story Mellencamp had about a family in a haunted log cabin. “I told Steve the story. He then took the story and wrote a treatment for it,” Mellencamp said in a phone interview. “We decided very early on we were not going to do this in a traditional fashion. My songs were not going to move the story along – they were for character development. … So what you have is not a musical but a play with music,” Mellencamp said.
‘Ghost Brothers’ is about internal family rivalries, and reflects the Faulknerian theme that the past is never truly past. In 1967, Joe McCandless (played by Billy Burke) saw his two older brothers battle over a girl, and the rivalry led to the death of the older brothers and the girl. In 2007, McCandless sees his two sons Frank (played by Lucas Kavner) and Drake (played by Joe Tippett) repeating what Joe witnessed when he was younger. Joe must decide whether to talk about his brothers’ deaths, and perhaps save his sons from a similar end. Among the other actors in the production are Gina Gershon (as Monique McCandless) and Jake La Botz (as The Shape).
As King wrote the book, “he would send me these assignments,” and Mellencamp would write songs for a portion of the text. A separate soundtrack of the songs is available, as is a digital book from King. On the album, Kris Kristofferson, Rosanne Cash, Sheryl Crow, and Taj Mahal are among the guest artists performing the music. The songs reflect Mellencamp’s many American music influences, among them country, blues, and rock.
“Steve and I talked a lot about great American authors and playwrights,” he said of the process of writing music for the play. The play is “closely akin in subject matter to Tennessee Williams. It takes place in the South, the people are obtuse, hard to get along with. … We talked about Faulkner, Williams, Arthur Miller” and other writers. He and King “both have our own personalities, and all those things are all there.”
All three collaborators are prolific in their fields. Mellencamp’s many albums include “Life, Death, LIVE and Freedom,” “No Better than This,” and the recently released “Plain Spoken.” Burnett’s voluminous producer credits include the soundtracks for the films “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” and “Inside Llewyn Davis.” King has written many suspense-horror novels, among them “The Shining,” “Carrie” and the recently released “Revival.”
The staging of ‘Ghost Brothers’ is like an old radio show, with storytelling. Members of Mellencamp’s band are on stage during the production – Andy York on guitar, Dane Clark on percussion, Troye Kinnett on keyboards and harmonica, and Jon E. Gee on bass.
Since the soundtrack recording was released in 2013, the play has changed, with different approaches to the characters, Mellencamp said. “Art is always in progress until you abandon it. …We’re still looking to make it something you have not seen a million times.”
http://www.heraldsun.com/news/showcase/x1726675471/-Ghost-Brothers-of-Darkland-County-coming-to-DPAC
