Andrew Durand Plays Dead, Hal Luftig's Bankruptcy Plan is Rejected, and More

Every once and a while I see a performance and wonder if there is some stage magic at play. That is how I felt while watching the musical Dead Outlaw. Andrew Durand—giving what The New York Times referred to as a “wow of a performance”—stays so still for so long that I would not have been surprised if a beta blocker was involved.

For a good amount of Dead Outlaw, Durand’s character, Elmer McCurdy (the real man/corpse upon whom the show is based), is dead and being dragged around in an upright coffin. He has one musical moment post-death, but basically, Durand stands there. Still. Seemingly not blinking.  

Durand knew since the show’s two-week developmental lab last year that the plan was for him to stand lifeless rather than be represented as a wax figure.

“[Director David Cromer] feels like, and I agree, that it keeps a human presence of Elmer there,” Durand said. “I feel like you really need that to keep the show compelling and to make you think about what's happening to this real person's body.”

Now, you may think: “Why is staying still so special?” But Durand both has to give a very high-energy performance at the start of the show and then stand stiff for about half of a one-hour-and-forty-minute musical. He said there was no secret to it. There are, however, some things the audience does not notice.

“When they move the coffin around, I will make imperceptible little moves just to keep the blood flowing to my toes and things like that,” Durand said. “When I first go into the mummification, I exaggerate the pose that I’m in, and then once they move me, I sort of relax it and I relax it more and more throughout the show. So I'm not cranking my neck over the side the whole show.”

Subconscious about his Adam’s apple, he tries to only swallow when people are walking in front of him. Same with blinking (though he explained on warm days, when the air conditioning is blowing in his face, he blinks more).

While the coffin is pitched back, there is a wedge under Durand’s feet so he is standing on a flat, rather than a raked surface. There is also a two-by-four behind his head, so he can put his head up against something. The rifle, which he had to hold early on, is now velcroed to the coffin, so he only needs to rest his hand around it.

Durand said he often focuses on the audience watching the show. His thoughts vary, but he sometimes thinks of the real-life Elmer and the disrespect with which his body was treated. He tries not to fantasize about jumping out of the coffin with a "boo!" He cannot meditate—he has to stay focused or else he might move unconsciously, be unprepared if something goes wrong (like the night when the coffin was pulled over a wire and tipped, causing Durand to spill out), or miss his musical breakout moment. 

When Durand comes offstage he goes into a tight squat, making himself a ball, before springing out of it. He is fully alive again. Death will wait until the next performance. 

Odds and Ends:

I previously reported that the Bankruptcy Court in the Hal Luftig Company bankruptcy proceeding recommended a reorganization plan that would release Luftig personally from debts owed to FCP Entertainment Partners. Well, the District Court, which had to approve the plan, rejected it, so, Luftig is currently back on the hook. A spokesperson for the producer said he would appeal.

Both Hillary Clinton and Kelli O’Hara deserve kudos for their attempts to sell tickets. Clinton is doing what “star producers" frequently don’t do and truly pushing Suffs, including appearing in commercials. When she was announced, some thought her name would be a negative, driving away Clinton haters. But I believed if she got more people to pay attention, her involvement would be a plus. We may never know, but Clinton is at least trying. And O’Hara is also putting her voice where her heart is, taking to Instagram daily to promote Days of Wine and Roses. I love to see it.

Industry Trends Weekly is a short column that runs in the weekly Industry Pro Newsletter. To read past columns and subscribe click here. If you have an idea for the column, you can reach the author at cara@broadwayworld.com.

Test and expand your Broadway knowledge with our new game - The Broadway Match-Up! How well do you know your Broadway casting trivia?	Play the Daily Game, explore current shows, and delve into past decades like the 2000s, 80s, and the Golden Age. Challenge your friends and see where you rank!
How well do you know your Tony Awards history? Take our never-ending quiz of nominations and winner history and challenge your friends.	Can you beat your friends? Play today’s daily Broadway word game, featuring a new theatrically inspired word or phrase every day!