The Black Dahlia was the posthumous nickname of an aspiring actress, Elizabeth Short, who was victim of a terrible murder in Los Angeles on January 15th 1947, as she was found mutilated with her body sliced in half at the waist in Leimart Park. The crime was never solved and the cold case has been since the source of many speculations, books and film adaptations.
Former Bauhaus and Love and Rockets bassist David J has a new take on the famous murder mystery, a project entitled ‘The Chanteuse and the Devil’s Muse’.
The original play will feature music written by David J and Ego Plum ((Ebola Music Orchestra) and the show is set to premiere at the Bootleg Theater in Los Angeles on September 8, 2011, and planned to run every Thursday through Saturday till October 1st.
In order to get things moving forward, David J needed to meet the goal of raising $5,000 by Monday, August 8th at 5:40 PM EST, and according to his kickstarter page, the funding was successful
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1881479892/david-js-new-black-dahlia-theatrical-production
Theatrefication, the event which was supposed to launch Los Angeles’ ‘Broadway 100’ celebration, honoring 100 years of the Historic Broadway Theatre District, has been postponed until later this year, challenging the musical theatre productions.
But after the performances at the Bootleg, the play will also be staged for one night only, at the Million Dollar Theatre in Downtown LA on November 12, 2011.
According to David J’s website, ‘the production will feature a rotating cast culled from the bleeding edge of contemporary theatre in Los Angeles as well as live music performed by Ego Plum (Ebola Music Orchestra, The Gogol Project), Ysanne Spevack (Smashing Pumpkins, English National Opera) and myself. It will also feature the extraordinary, internationally acclaimed Butoh performer, Vangeline. ‘
Another source is also saying that the role of Madi Comfort, a jazz singer and model who was said to have been seen with main suspect, will be played by Daniele Watts (two-time NAACP Award-winner and Ovation Award nominee) and the part of Lieutenant Frank Jemison by Douglas Dickerman.
David J. declared: ‘I am revisiting the ‘Black Dahlia’ song cycle that I originally composed for the independent feature film, ‘The Devil’s Muse’ directed by Ramzi Abed. In this new theatrical staging, I am reuniting with the arranger of the original cycle, Ego Plum. The music works as a framework around which another related story is interwoven.’
The Bootleg is a cool place, I go there often for their music shows (free on Mondays) and it seems that this will target a young and hip crowd with this new form of writing as David J. explains:
‘Writing in the short form is all about stripping down and condensing. To me, this is not so difficult as I have always felt something of an affinity with the spare approach. Initially this economic attitude was applied to my music (Bauhaus) and now it’s being applied to theatre.’
One last thing, Marilyn Manson loaned him the series of paintings about the Black Dahlia murder he owns (how surprising!) and they will be on display in the theater.
You can already reserve your tickets here, a nice deal as they are between $18 and $25:
https://bootlegtheater.secure.force.com/ticket#details_a0JA0000007TIsmMAG
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