Thrill Me

While I'm on the topic of musicals...

I went to the Uptown Players production of "Thrill Me: The Leopold and Loeb Story" Saturday night not knowing what to expect. I'd studied "the thrill killers" in a psychology class in college and couldn't imagine what a musical about them might be like (in 1924, they killed a 14 year old boy for no reason). But I'd read the rave reviews of the Off-Broadway production and didn't want to miss my chance to see the show.

The show is really not about the crime so much as it's about the relationship between the killers, Nathan and Richard. Richard is the type of guy who can get just about anyone to do whatever he wants. Nathan describes his seductive personality in what is, perhaps, the best song of the show, "Everybody Wants Richard." Nathan seems to be a victim of Richard's charm. And, it's this relationship that makes the show so engaging.

The music is beautiful and completely haunting. It's relatively simple, with only two vocalists and a piano, but it's really been sticking with me a lot more than most musicals I've seen. "Everybody Wants Richard," "Nothing Like a Fire," and "Thrill Me" are my personal favorites.

Generally, when I see a musical I like, I get the cd and listen over and over again, singing along most of the time. As I watched this show, however, I found it hard to imagine repeatedly listening and singing along with songs based on the true story of two killers. But the music was so good, I couldn't leave the theatre without buying a copy. There's one song, "Plan," that I usually skip; it discusses the crime in more depth than I really care to think about. "Roadster," the song during which Nathan lures the victim to his car is perhaps even more haunting, but too good to skip everytime.

My last entry was about the failure of combining Nick Hornby with musical theatre, but this was an even more unlikely combination and it worked splendidly. It's truly amazing what talented artists can do with what seems like dreadful material.