In today's "WTF?" celebrity-collaboration news, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution recently reported that wholesome Chevy fan and impending Rock Hall member John Mellencamp will pair up with bestselling nightmare-inducer Stephen King to stage the musical they've been plotting for going on eight years.
The Mississippi-set fratricidal mystery spans decades of life, death and afterlife in an old lakefront property and will be directed by Peter Askin, who helmed the Off-Broadway production of acclaimed glam-rock musical Hedwig and the Angry Inch. It's slated to open in April 2009 at Atlanta's Alliance Theatre. (Let's hear it for Paste's hometown getting two big musical debuts in a row!)
As for the name bestowed upon this groundbreaking composition, while punny-dits might guesstimate some pretty decent mash-ups ("I Saw Mommy Killing Santa Claus"? "Blood-Red Houses"? "Anti-Authority Song"? "I Need a Vampire That Won't Drive Me Crazy"? "Dance Naked"? Oh, wait...), the straightforward title of the "dramatic musical" with a script by King and a score by Mellencamp will be Ghost Brothers of Darkland County.
In an August 2007 post on the Mellenblog (a citizen-journalist blog operated under the Bloomington, Ind. Herald-Times banner), Mellencamp offered this curious detail about Darkland County: "I plan to have every person sing from their generation. This is what I’m thinking right now, but it may not work out this way. When the 18-year-old sings, he’ll be rapping at you. When the people in their 70s are singing, they’ll be singing in the style of Broadway or the style of Frank Sinatra or country. I intend to cover any type of music that Americans have invented."
John Mellencamp. Writing hip-hop songs. Potentially on Broadway. What's next, Rap the Musical? After all, it would only be the latest in a line of Mr. Show sketches that have become reality...but we digress. For proof of how tight Mellencamp and King truly are—no joke—watch Stephen (and Donovan!) happily strum along with The Coug during a 2005 performance of "Pink Houses" in Louisville, Ky.:
Related links:
StephenKing.com
Mellencamp.com
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