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Want To See DIAMOND DEAD Right Now'!
Hi, everyone. "Moriarty" here with some Rumblings From The Lab...
After George Romero finishes LAND OF THE DEAD, he’s supposed to jump right into DIAMOND DEAD for Scott Free Films. If you’re curious to see what he’s up to, you can check it out right now... on stage. Check this out:
Dear Harry,
I thought I should tell you that Diamond Dead is being presented live on stage in Washington DC by the Landless Theatre Company starting September 30th at the DCAC Theater. Richard Hartley wrote a new song for the play and of course they using the other songs he wrote for the film. This is an interesting step for us to move the project forward. At this point, George Romero is directing Land of the Dead in Toronto and the plan is for him to start with Diamond Dead around next April/May. I am still producing it with Ridley Scott. Richard is flying over from London - I and will be at the theater in Washington Oct 1-3. The financing is looking promising for the movie, our website is still going strong with 14 million hits.
Best,
Andrew GatyHere’s the official release about it:
The Landless Theatre Company has been granted the exclusive stage rights to present the premiere presentation of 'Diamond Dead', a new rock musical by Richard Hartley, composer of the cult classic, 'The Rocky Horror Show'. The original screenplay by Brian Cooper ('Nymph') has been adapted for the stage by Landless’ Artistic Director, Andrew Lloyd Baughman. The production will be directed by Shirley Serotsky (Source’s 'Titus the Musical') and stars Rachel Anne Warren (ATW’s 'Rocky Horror Show'). 'Diamond Dead' runs September 30 through October 30, Thursday through Saturday nights, at the DCAC in Adams Morgan. Press preview night is Thursday, September 30 at 7:30pm. Invited press night is Saturday, October 2 (6:30pm reception, 7:00pm curtain).
**A discussion session with Hartley and the creative team will immediately follow the performance.**
“We never expected to get this kind of opportunity handed to us,” said Baughman. “Landless is incredibly lucky to have a chance to workshop a production that has the potential to become a phenomenon in the years to come.” The internationally based creative team includes Hartley, Cooper, Romero and Andrew Gaty, the Los Angeles-based film producer of 'Diamond Dead'.
“Ordinarily we would have never looked at Washington as an outlet for this experiment,” said Gaty. “But when Landless Theatre approached us with their ideas, we all thought ‘Why not?’ If this works, we will continue to develop the stage version of 'Diamond Dead'. It has the potential to be as original and unique and different as 'Rocky Horror' was in its day.”
Though composer Richard Hartley has staunchly refused to be involved in any stage musical since 'Rocky Horror', he is finally returning to the theatre scene and is composing new songs for the 'Diamond Dead' premiere. Hartley, along with Gaty and Cooper, will be in DC for the opening weekend of Diamond Dead and will be on hand for a Q & A during press night.
'Diamond Dead' centers around a garage rock band that dies in a “tragic subwoofer accident,” only to be brought back to life as cannibal zombies through a special arrangement with Death. Preying on the public's thirst for the unusual and unknown, the band uses their “undead” status to achieve rock superstardom (and a few meals along the way).
“When I first looked at the 'Diamond Dead' screenplay, I didn't want to simply put the movie on stage - there would be technical limitations, and we didn't want to give away the plot of the upcoming movie,” Baughman said.
“Our adaptation is more of an interactive experimental work that focuses on developing Brian Cooper's colorful characters, and combines some of the best elements of 'The Rocky Horror Show', 'Hedwig and the Angry Inch', 'Tony and Tina’s Wedding' and 'Spinal Tap'. We hope to create a rock concert event that people won't forget!”
'Diamond Dead' will run September 30 through October 30, 2004, Thursday through Saturday evenings at 7:30pm with one matinee on October 24 at 3:00pm. All performances are held at the DCAC located at 2438 18th Street, NW in Adams Morgan. Tickets are $20.00 each and can be purchased online here
.
Visit our official site for details on the rest of Landless Theatre Company’s 2004-2005 season.So it’s not the whole thing, but rather a sneak peek of what to expect when Romero finally gets around to it. Good luck with the run, guys.
"Moriarty" out.
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I'm glad Romero's doing LAND before this. That script was super lame.
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Respect the bass. Tame the treble.
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Maybe they should develop this Diamond Dead on the stage first.Sounds like fun.
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Oct 01, 2004 1:06:31 PM CDT
First... Hartley was 'musical arranger' NOT 'composer' of Rocky
by workshed
Now if they could just find a way to get O'Brien involved. He's still in great shape..! First at last... he he.
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Oct 01, 2004 1:07:43 PM CDT
I suppose my 'two-finger typing' will always stop me being firs
by workshed
DOH..!
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Being a huge fan of Rocky Horror, I'm retardedly excited about "Diamond Dead" and I hope it's has good on stage, and in the theater. :)
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He's super-annoying, and he hasn't done anything good since he left Van Halen. Oh I'm sorry, that's Diamond DAVE.
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Oct 01, 2004 2:23:09 PM CDT
Wouldn't this be exactly the way a real Diamond Dead band would
by big bad clone
"Zombie rock stars? That's hilarious...oh shit they're real arrrggghhhh!" This would be a fun musical, but a shit film. Or at best, a good bad movie.
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I just watched the extended cut of Dawn Of The Dead late last night. Even though I've seen it a couple of dozen times I always forget how rich with character detail and subtext it is. From a technical standpoint Romero may not be the slickest, but his rough around the edges style really enhances the vibe of these movies and gives them a dangerous, unpredictable urgency.
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they should get Rivers Cuomo from Weezer to write the songs. I mean it.
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Did you see Creepshow? That was 80's schlock there my friend--Romero is perfectly capable of adapting to the times.
Jackrod. -
If you want to blame someone for the photography in DAWN, blame Mike Gornick. Personally, the look of all the Gornick/Romero flicks is impressive in my eyes. You seem to be mistaking low budget for sloppy production values. Just because House of the Dead was shot with modern Panavision cameras and edited digitally doesn't mean that it isn't an eyesore on a slick scale.
I have the new Anchor Bay Dawn set as well--and it looks amazing. Stop smoking so much damned dope! -
Classic 80s horror cheese! "You should be loyal to your heroes... They can turn on you." Fastway rocks.
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Forget George Romero, look in the mirror. I thought you said you were a bigshot corporate prick, now you think you are a film expert, what's next? So, what blockbuster zombie films have you directed Nun? Where does this film expertise come from?
People like Romero films BECAUSE THEY ARE CHEESY AND POORLY ACTED, dumbass. That's why they are so much fun.
Oh and whatever happened to your buddies in the FBI? (for those of you who missed it Nun is deluded enough to think he has pals in the bureau, and threatened to send them after me on another board). He's a real stable individual, that Nun. -
Whoa. You can't judge Romero strictly by the ultra independent, ultra low budget stuff. What about Monkey Shines, The Dark Half, or Bruiser? All of those were pretty contemporary in a cinematography sense. Especially Bruiser! I was surprised at how modern some of the setups for Bruiser were!
As for Diamond Dead, I can't believe George is going for this thing but if you do enough digging you'll find out that it was actually George's son who 'developed' this project. Brantley is turning it into a vanity project and totally inflating his contributiom to Rocky Horror. It's a mess. I can only assume that George told Cameron he would get involved if he could get it off the ground, never seriously thinking it would get off the ground... silly
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