After a critically acclaimed, award-winning Edinburgh Festival Fringe run, the musical Thrill Me: The Leopold & Loeb Story will tour the UK, opening with a two-week London season at Greenwich Theatre from 8–18 April.
Thrill Me will then tour to The Lowry, Salford (8 and 9 May); Old Rep, Birmingham (22 and 23 May); Eden Court, Inverness (5 June) and Square Chapel, Halifax (6 June). More dates will be announced soon.
Winner of the first 2014 Broadway Baby ‘Bobby’ award for outstanding productions at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Thrill Me (book, music, and lyrics by Stephen Dolginoff) is based on the true story of Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb, the so-called ‘thrill killers’ who murdered a young boy in 1924 in order to commit ‘the perfect crime’. It is directed by Guy Retallack and produced by Richard Williamson and CliMar Productions in association with Greenwich Theatre.
Told in flashbacks, beginning with a 1958 parole hearing, it examines the relationship between Leopold and Loeb – both wealthy, normal and intelligent Chicago students, about to start training to become lawyers. We are taken on a journey of two young men, one who believed he was above the law – obsessed and fuelled by the philosophy of Nietzsche to the point he believed he was a ‘Superman’ beyond good and evil. The other – a loner – became a willing accomplice, empowering Loeb in his crimes. His reward – Richard’s time, attention and conditional love. Together, they both believed they had perpetrated the perfect crime, or was one more certain than the other?
Since Climar Productions’ 2011 premiere, Thrill Me has won a string of awards including Whatsonstage.com Best Off-West End Production and seven Off West End Awards (Offies) nods.
Alongside Retallack in the creative team are musical director Tom Turner, designer James Turner, lighting designer and producer Richard Williamson.
Stephen Dolginoff (book, music and lyrics) is an award-winning, New York-based, writer/composer. He received Drama Desk Award nominations for Best Musical and Best Music; an Outer Critics’ Circle Award nomination for Best Off-Broadway musical; and won an ASCAP Music Award for Thrill Me: The Leopold & Loeb Story.
Guy Retallack (director) is artistic director of the Bridgehouse Theatre where he directed his own adaptation of A Christmas Carol, and Macbeth, for which he was nominated by the Offies for Best Director 2014. Retallack has directed a wide variety of different productions including The Last Session (Tristan Bates Theatre), Thrill Me: The Leopold & Loeb Story (Tristan Bates and Charing Cross Theatres). Other work includes Tommy by Pete Townshend which toured the UK for Bill Kenwright (BKL) in 2005, and was nominated for Best Musical by the MEN Awards.
Readers may also be interested in:
Thrill Me: The Leopold & Loeb Story – Edinburgh Festival Fringe – Review
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