Leopold and Loeb, now in a musical
At first, it is as though Thrill Me: The Leopold and Loeb Story is perhaps the blackest black comedy ever to darken a stage.
At first, it is as though
Thrill Me: The Leopold and Loeb Story
is perhaps the blackest black comedy ever to darken a stage.
All signs in Stephen Dolginoff's melodramatic musical about notorious 1920s "thrill killers" Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb point to the making of a future camp classic. As the young men snuggle up together watching the licking flames of a fire - that fire coming from a warehouse they have torched - Leopold says, giddy with nostalgia, "This reminds me of high school!"
Then there are lyrics, ranging from the irredeemably trite, such as Leopold's (David Standish) pathetic admission to Loeb (Joshua Rivedal), "When you cut off all our contact, how it hurt, you made me feel like dirt," to the wittily ironic, as in a post-sentencing song: "We'll be together for life . . . plus 99 years."
Leopold and Loeb - lovers, geniuses, sociopaths - graduated from college with more than a passing interest in Nietzsche's theory of the Übermensch, or superman. Believing themselves superior to everyone else, they worked their way up from petty crime to the eventual kidnapping and murder of 14-year-old David Franks, a neighbor in their wealthy Chicago suburb - a fact that isn't funny or campy at all. This schism in the musical is one that director Jesse Cline appears to understand, and it is impressive that the production is able to successfully swing between the extremes of its subject matter.
The show hinges on the presence of a combustible chemistry between the actors, but it is only when Rivedal's Loeb pantomimes his enticement of the young victim during the song "Roadster" that he conveys the sort of seductiveness that ought to be burning up the stage throughout the production. Although both actors individually possess a wanton decadence, they don't ever truly ignite, and they seem slightly stiff with one another.
In addition, although Melissa Guyer's moody lighting and spare set work well, the actors' voices are not strong enough to overcome the problems of theater in the round, with their backs inevitably turned toward some section of the audience.
Still, Thrill Me is intriguing, because Leopold and Loeb were so intriguing. Their story fascinates - even after a seen-it-all century that produced serial-killer trading cards and Charles Manson T-shirts. From the young men's incredible hubris to their inevitable fall, they lived as examples not of Nietzschean nihilism and superiority, as was their intention, but classical tragedy.
And the irony of that, well, it's kind of funny.
Thrill Me: The Leopold and Loeb Story
Book, music and lyrics by Stephen Dolginoff, directed by Jesse Cline, lighting and scenery by Melissa Guyer, costumes by Melissa Baker-Atkins, sound by Nathan C.
Gray, musical direction by Christopher Ertelt.
The cast: David Standish (Nathan Leopold) and Joshua Rivedal (Richard Loeb).
Playing at: Media Theatre. Through Feb. 18. Tickets: $22 to $35. Information: 610-891-0100 or
EndText