Read the Atlanta Theater Fans review of Ghost Brothers of Darkland County.
Bert Osborne of the AJC has reviewed the world-premiere production of Stephen King and John Mellencamp’s Ghost Brothers of Darkland County at the Alliance Theatre. Giving the new musical a grade of A, he mentions, “Once you get inside the Alliance Theatre, take a moment to stand in awe of Todd Rosenthal’s spectacularly spooky scenic design.” It was not just the set he found impressive. He mentions the direction of Susan Booth as well as the solos by Jake La Botz,and he goes on to praise the choreography and the score. He writes, “the highlight among the production numbers (choreographed by Daniel Pelzig) is the pulsating Act I finale, “Tear This Cabin Down,” which essentially burns down the house.” Read the full review on the AJC website.
For tickets and more information about Ghost Brothers of Darkland County, please visit the Alliance Theatre’s website.
King loves picking proven winners for collaboration; just ask Shooter Jennings. John Mellencamp is an arrogant, sanctimonious has-been. Hopefully his liberal pals will tire of him and he’ll go away quietly.
Great set, lighting, music , band , acting. Very enjoyable except for extreme language, gratuitous verbal sexual descriptions and unnecessary gore and death. ( Just like many movies these days) Kids should not go. Clean it up some and it could enjoy wide appeal. It has some positive messages about facing demons and the truth.
This play was torture to sit through. They tried but it just sucked
The first act is a train wreck, with trite characterizations and goofy story structure. There are so many characters on stage that it not until late in the first act do we discover whose story this is….father, brothers, ghosts? The shooting contest alone was the most inane scene, right out of Oklahoma 2. I don’t know what was worst, king’s butchering of visual storytelling, you can’t tell us backstory Stephen you must show us, or megs plastic surgeon, what ever happened to aging gracefully.
The presentation was excellent, the songs superb..Top notch set with great effects and solid story. The negative reviews are New York biased. Basically, these writers are miffed that such a high profile musical snubbed them for the debut. I highly recommend this. Its entertainment folks.
Variety is correct. This show is a vanity project written by two overrated egomaniacs who think because they can respectively string a few gory sentences together a write a few rhyming couplets witha catchy tune to them that theyre qualified to tackle a full length theatrical drama, which is the hardest format in all of literature. They didn’t even get close. This thing is an utter piece of crap, and it should die right where it is, and it wasn’t good enough to be put up even there.
I read the Variety review, and the I also read an article in the New York Post. Both are extremely negative, and the Post article is ruthless. Is the show perfect? No, but its flaws are minor and easy to overlook. Wicked isn’t perfect, but constantly is the highest grossing show on Broadway each week. Imperfect shows can be hits. Not every wants to win the Best Musical Tony. King wrote a very literary script, and since most Broadway musicals (Next to Normal, Wicked aside) are purely escapist entertainment and shallow, most New York critics can’t understand the literary aspects in a musical. Yet, for some reason they will fawn over them in a play.
This should skip New York and go to Hollywood. the King fans, Mellencamp fans, Glee viewers, and Smash viewerscan help make it a summer blockbuster.
Saw it again last night. Found it interesting that AJC gave it a rave and Variety basically trashed it. Two totally different perspectives.