Save this article to read it later.
Find this story in your accountsSaved for Latersection.
He drank and fought and eventually hopped trains.
He worked as a plumber and a miner and did a stint in the army.
Then he turned to bank and train robbery, with really striking ineptitude.
Now the mummys even got a musical.
Theyre here to tell a wild tale and not to get too precious about it.
Thom Sesma is especially delightful in an old Hollywoodstyle showstopper in which his up-till-then sedate Dr. Thomas Noguchithehigh-profileL.A.
coroner who examined Elmers body when it reappeared in 1976busts out into fullStairway to Paradisediva mode.
What does Andy Payne have to do with Elmer McCurdy?
Everything has a politics, andDead Outlawdoesnt have to spell out its skepticism of the American mythos.
As Elmer himself, the excellent Andrew Durand becomes a kind of allegory for inarticulate, disgruntled American masculinity.
Why does he turn to crime?
Because lifes been kind of tough and, goddammit, this isnt what he was owed.
Whats the most badass part of all?
But the shows share cultural curiosity, nuance, and compassion.
If Elmer were alive today, hed probably be waving a tiki torch and wearing a red baseball cap.
Dead Outlawis at the Minetta Lane Theatre through April 14.
