Stephen King has killed off all sorts of characters in his 49 or so novels.
Now that he’s working in the theater, he might have a go at killing off his director.
“Ghost Brothers of Darkland County,” a musical King’s written with John Mellencamp, opened this week at the Alliance Theater in Atlanta. And while the localyokel critic called Susan Booth’s direction “mesmerizing,” toughminded Broadway insiders who caught the show say she should be interred in “Pet Sematary.”
“The music is excellent, and the story’s pretty good, but this production can’t work in NewYork,” one of my spies says. “They have to get rid of the director.”
Another source says: “The first act is confusing. There’s too much going on and the pacing is slack. The director seems more interested in showing off what she can do at her theater than in putting together a coherent production. There are lots of special effects, like a full-size car that appears for about 15 seconds. It’s pointless.”
That’s rough. But let’s be honest: Broadway’s a scary place—scarier, sometimes, than the Marsten House in “Salem’s Lot.”
And if you’re not up to steering a $10 million plus musical through its tricky terrain, sooner or later you’re going to get it in the neck.
The situation down in Atlanta is, however, delicate. Booth has been a champion of “Darkland County” for a long time. She’s also raised the Alliance’s profile by turning it into a Broadway try out house, launching such musicals as “The Color Purple,” “Come Fly With Me” and “Sister Act.”
“She’s an excellent administrator,” says a Broadway producer who’s worked at the Alliance.
“But like everybody else in show business, she wants to direct.”
King and Mellencamp are fond of her and on opening night seemed pleased with her production.
But what do they know about bringing a musical to Broadway?
A production source says they weren’t around during rehearsals all that much, and that “Darkland County” is “sort of a busman’s holiday for them. It’s a nice little sideline, a little diversion from writing novels and giving concerts.
“They need a strong director who will sit down with them and make them rewrite scenes and songs.”
“Darkland County” tells the story of a backwoods Mississippi family in the grip of a crime that occurred 40 years before. The narrator is a mysterious punkrocker called Shape.
Shape should be creepy, but in Booth’s hands “he’s about as sinister as the narrator in ‘Rock of Ages,’ ” says one of my sources, snickering.
The cast isamix of local actors and NewYork stage veterans— Emily Skinner and Shuler Hensley, both of whom, I’m told, are excellent.
Mellencamp has written some “terrific songs,” according to a source—country, blues, rock, all “brilliantly” orchestrated by T Bone Burnett.
King’s book packs plenty of twists and, at its best, is as creepy as any of his novels.
My sense is that “Darkland County” is promising—and, with King’s name above the title, it’s certainly commercial.
But I don’t think NewYork producers or investors will open their wallets until a seasoned Broadway director comes onboard.
Mellencamp and King should follow the lead of two other highprofile Broadway newcomers— Bono and The Edge.
They had no qualms about stabbing poor Julie Taymor in the back when “SpiderMan:
Turn Off the Dark” spun out of control. And, unlike Taymor, a regional theater director is not going to sue a couple of gazillionaires like Stephen King and John Mellencamp.
Pitching her overboard should be a cinch.
michael.riedel@nypost.com