DEAD OUTLAW Reviews- Page 4

[Kad]

Posted: 5/9/25 at 5:08pm

These circumstances were entirely foreseeable when you fire the highly respected, long-serving, Broadway championing librarian of Congress without cause in a deeply disrespectful way.  Good for the Dead Outlaw team.

[ACL2006]

Posted: 5/9/25 at 5:41pm

I hope they do one of those NPR Tiny Desk concerts instead.

[RUkiddingme]

Posted: 5/9/25 at 5:55pm

one more reason to love this show!

[BentleyB]

Posted: 5/9/25 at 9:33pm

I do hope we don’t get another Stephen Miller video and lecture. 

[Fordham2015]

Posted: 5/11/25 at 8:18pm

Though not as good as The Band's Visit, Dead Outlaw is a welcome return to form for Yazbek after Tootsie. Ironically I thought it really caught fire once Elmer died- from the Osage train robbery on it was firing on all cylinders.

Durand is very impressive, Brown is a terrific bandleader and Knitel is wonderful (she also has great harmonies with the pianist). Sesma's big number is a hoot.

I preferred this score to MHE, and while not a tech heavy show, I would've nominated it for lighting. 

[Robbie2]

Posted: 5/11/25 at 8:50pm

steven22 said: "I originally had no interest in seeing this. I just started listening to the first part of the cast recording. I’m really enjoying it. How does the recording compare to the live performance?"

TBH, I would rather just have listened to the recording and not have seen the show. We were not fans at all but I like the recording better than the musical.

[tacotheatrelover]

Posted: 5/14/25 at 6:52pm

Any chance this tours? God knows when i make it back to nyc and i don't want to miss this like i did swept away.

I miss swept away

[MadsonMelo]

Posted: 5/14/25 at 8:49pm

I read on reddit that this has a in person rush. Has anyone tried? I think it will be my last show of the trip given that they will do a evening show on May 25

[ACL2006]

Posted: 5/14/25 at 9:25pm

MadsonMelo said: "I read on reddit that this has a in person rush. Has anyone tried? I think it will be my last show of the trip given that they will do a evening show on May 25"

very easy. $40 and usually front orchestra.

[CJRochester]

Posted: 5/15/25 at 11:25am

I like it but it may be too quirky for touring audiences. Given how many on here have reported the show doesn't feel the same as it did in the Village, unless you are sitting in the front orchestra, that doesn't bode well for large touring houses. 

[trpguyy]

Posted: 5/15/25 at 11:55am

Anyone else catch their dreadfully boring Today Show performance? The decision to do that song only makes sense if they’re trying to close the show. 

[Fordham2015]

Posted: 5/15/25 at 12:01pm

trpguyy said: "Anyone else catch their dreadfully boring Today Show performance? The decision to do that song only makes sense if they’re trying to close the show."

"Something from Nothing" is one of my favorite songs in the show, it's the high energy coroner number as opposed to Thom Sesma's torch song (which is also great)

[Wick3]

Posted: 5/15/25 at 12:17pm

tacotheatrelover said: "Any chance this tours? God knows when i make it back to nyc and i don't want to miss this like i did swept away.

I miss swept away"

I'm guessing it depends on how the roadies from the conference like the show this week and whether they think their subsrcribers/base will want to see the show.

[EDSOSLO858]

Posted: 5/15/25 at 12:28pm

Eddie Cooper, Trent Saunders, and the company performing "Something From Nothing":

https://www.today.com/video/-dead-outlaw-cast-performs-something-from-nothing-on-today-239632965745

Jeb Brown, Andrew Durand, and Julia Knitel performing "Normal":

https://www.today.com/video/broadway-cast-of-dead-outlaw-performs-normal-live-on-today-239635013653

[Owen22]

Posted: 5/16/25 at 10:35am

trpguyy said: "Anyone else catch their dreadfully boring Today Show performance? The decision to do that song only makes sense if they’re trying to close the show."

Those are two of the best songs from the show!  Which is a hard thing to say when a musical has SO MANY great songs.  So many more great songs than any other (excellent) show(s) this season. The craft is almost gone and Yazbek keeps it alive (while Lin Manuel pushes it forward). I actually think the Smash songs are pretty great too, but they didn't organically rise from the actual writing of a Broadway show. I am steadily readying for MHE, a wonderful little show by the way, to win Best Score and it will be a travesty (I'm okay with it winning Best Musical, even though its down my list after Dead Outlaw and Operation Mincemeat).  Real Women Have Curves has a better score than Maybe Happy Ending!  But back to my original point: the art of song-writing on Broadway is changing to the point I grasp any show that has actual, real songs, as opposed to songs that are..basically structured recitative. God help me, my favorite musical last season was Gatsby, only because it had real songs. But Outlaw is a lovely, boundary pushing musical that is at once experimental and moving. And tuneful. I want show tunes. I want show tunes.

Updated On: 5/16/25 at 10:35 AM

[carolinaguy]

Posted: 5/16/25 at 11:17am

I loved the variety in this score at the Longacre, and I'm enjoying it even more listening to Part 1 of the cast recording. "Something from Nothing" is a wonderfully vibey song with a great hook. The only thing that bothers me about any of it is that Natalie Wood died after the events depicted in "Up to the Stars," but other than that anachronism it's wonderful.

It would surely get my vote for score, while I would still vote MHE for Best Musical.

[BanjoKazooie]

Posted: 5/16/25 at 11:20am

carolinaguy said: "I loved the variety in this score at the Longacre, and I'm enjoying it even more listening to Part 1 of the cast recording. "Something from Nothing" is a wonderfully vibey song with a great hook. The only thing that bothers me about any of it is that Natalie Wood died after the events depicted in "Up to the Stars," but other than that anachronism it's wonderful.

It would surely get my vote for score, while I would still vote MHE for Best Musical."

I think this is exactly the way it's going to go, actually. Folks seem to be really underestimating Dead Outlaw's chances at winning score.

[Owen22]

Posted: 5/20/25 at 9:34am

I do love there is now a showtune called "I Killed a Man in Maine". 
https://youtu.be/ZzuKb5wKIZg?si=emoJOq7xiS6J7TUy

Updated On: 5/20/25 at 09:34 AM

[Melissa25]

Posted: 5/20/25 at 10:03am

I thought we were going to get decapitated with that cymbal that rolled right towards us during I Killed a Man in Maine. Durand was on fire. I was afraid for him when he jumped up on that desk. 

[broadway86]

Posted: 5/20/25 at 12:18pm

Owen22 said: "I do love there is now a showtune called "I Killed a Man in Maine".
https://youtu.be/ZzuKb5wKIZg?si=emoJOq7xiS6J7TUy"

This song gave me so much life in the theater. I was about to start a mosh pit. 

[halfhourcheckwithmerman]

Posted: 5/26/25 at 1:25am

Saw this tonight after missing it off-Broadway. I went in slightly skeptically, maybe because I love Maybe Happy Ending so incredibly much and have been rooting for it so much for so long this season (and liked but did not love Mincemeat). 

But I fell head over heels in love with this show --- so smart, so clever, and so insightful, but not at one single moment ever hitting you over the head with that. The most fun I've had in a theater in ages. And I love the degree to which this humor is genuine and not self-indulgent or wink-y. The song Julia Knitel sings to the corpse as a teenager is one of the deceptively smartest and sweetest songs I've heard in a Broadway show in years. And so many moments where Yazbek and co. just give space and room for really beautiful music.

And again --- so much fun!

Andrew Durand is wonderful, but not in quite as fine voice as he sounded on those Spotify tracks... I wonder if doing "I Killed a Man in Maine" eight times a week is sustainable, lol. (Or just an off-night). 

Helen J Shen was in the audience tonight. Fun after seeing Andre De Shields at PURPOSE this afternoon as well. 

I have no idea what I would do if I was a tony voter. It's been a sensational season. 

[quizking101]

Posted: 5/26/25 at 7:41am

halfhourcheckwithmerman said: "
Andrew Durand is wonderful, but not in quite as fine voice as he sounded on those Spotify tracks... I wonder if doing "I Killed a Man in Maine" eight times a week is sustainable, lol. (Or just an off-night).

Helen J Shen was in the audience tonight. Fun after seeing Andre De Shields at PURPOSE this afternoon as well.

I have no idea what I would do if I was a tony voter. It's been a sensational season."

Having seen all the musicals that have opened this year, I’ve never had a more “Sophie’s Choice” feeling of who I want to win because all of them, to some extent or another, deserve it. I think I would be legitimately happy for any of them to win (except maybe DBH, if only because it would feel like a cop out in such an inventively original season).

From what I had heard at the stage door, the cast had a run of six performances in three days (understudy rehearsal and regular show on Friday, and then two on Saturday and Sunday) so it’s entirely possible he sounded a little off. From where I was sitting (rear orch), it didn’t sound any different to me. 

Funny you mentioned Helen J. Shen because, naturally, I ran into Darren Criss and his wife in the lobby on the way in since we were both cutting close to curtain (I ran from Oh Mary!). I wish him luck at the Tonys and I could see him smile underneath his mask.

[Fordham2015]

Posted: 5/26/25 at 7:32pm

Great piece on Thom Sesma's character Coroner Thomas Noguchi

At 98, the ‘Coroner to the Stars’ Is Getting One Last Act (gift link)

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/24/theater/dead-outlaw-noguchi-coroner.html?unlocked_article_code=1.KE8.0F7p.0UuaO3U_1ceU&smid=url-share

[Bryce 2]

Posted: 5/26/25 at 11:38pm

Funny you mentioned Helen J. Shen because, naturally, I ran into Darren Criss and his wife in the lobby on the way in since we were both cutting close to curtain (I ran from Oh Mary!). I wish him luck at the Tonys and I could see him smile underneath his mask."

Cynthia Erivo was there as well! I was shocked to be seated right next to her, and on the opposite end of the row from Darren Criss.

[MezzA101]

Posted: 5/31/25 at 9:45pm

In ‘Dead Outlaw,’ Andrew Durand Has the Role of a Lifetime. And After.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/31/theater/dead-outlaw-andrew-durand-tonys.html?unlocked_article_code=1.Lk8.BEOc.zVUEWvwvM2E4&smid=nytcore-android-share