Original Broadway Cast, 2025 (Audible and Yellow Sound Label) (3.5 / 5) One of Broadway’s most versatile composers, David Yazbek collaborated with Erik Della Penna in creating the music and lyrics for Dead Outlaw, his most unusual project yet. The first half of the show’s book, by Itamar Moses, covers the life of train robber Elmer McCurdy. A botched robbery leads to McCurdy’s untimely death, and the second half of the show (and the cast album) portrays his body’s absurd, 60-year odyssey as a mummified carnival attraction. Inevitably, the full scope of Andrew Durand’s acclaimed performance as McCurdy is partly diminished on the recording, most obviously  because his second-act mastery of physical stillness as a mummified corpse is not captured. Still, his vocal navigation of McCurdy’s vulnerability and rage is fully evident here; Durand is alluring in the show’s opening, “Ballad,” but his voice is full of ferocity in the punk-tinged “Killed a Man in Maine.” The colorful ensemble cast includes Broadway veterans Jeb Brown, Thom Sesma, and Ken Marks, along with relative newcomer Julia Knitel, who plays several roles. Knitel’s strongest moment is in the second act ballad “Millicent’s Song,” as she plays a teenage girl who confides her thoughts and anxieties to McCurdy’s corpse and his available, if unhearing, ears; here, her calming voice gives listeners a break from the score’s high-speed pace. The band, led by narrator Jeb Brown, shows off Yazbek’s blues-infused, rockabilly score and rips through the irresistibly catchy tune “Dead” while also leading the haunting chorus of the song “Crimson Thread.” That said, the most significant flaw of Dead Outlaw is the fact that too many of the songs were written for Brown and the onstage band to comment on the action of the play, rather than moving the story forward. “Up to the Stars,” “Nobody Knows Your Name,” and the aforementioned “Dead” are all fine songs, but they may leave the listener grasping for narrative threads. Ultimately, this unique endeavor can’t be counted as Yazbek’s best score, but don’t be surprised if some of the tunes stick in your head long after they should have died. [Note: Audible also released a complete recording of the entire show that is only available digitally.]  — Forrest Hutchinson