A new musical set at the 1893 World’s Fair makes its world premiere at the Sacred Fools Theater Company of Los Angeles this fall. Deadly, written by Vanessa Claire Stewart, with music by Ryan Thomas Johnson, explores the chilling events of the “murder castle” operating near the grounds of the Columbian Exposition.
The twin stories of the Fair and the serial killer, which were the subject of Erik Larson’s dramatic non-fiction book The Devil in the White City (2003), have been a popular subject for theater and dance. A comedic show ran in Indianapolis this summer, and a 2014 ballet “The White City” by Chicago’s Thodos Ballet covered the same ground.
Sacred Fools offers this description of Deadly:
They were intelligent, ambitious, independent women. It just wouldn’t do. 1893. A time of hope and optimism as the World’s Fair turns the globe’s eyes toward Chicago. But within this cultural explosion of art and technology, a demon lurks beneath. Taking advantage of the modern woman’s adventuresome spirit, H.H. Holmes builds a hotel – a murder castle – to entrap and kill unsuspecting ladies new to the big city.
Deadly runs through November 4, 2019 at Sacred Fools Theater Company (1076 Lillian Way) in Los Angeles.
A scene from Deadly, showing Kristyn Evelyn portraying Evelyn Stewart, a young woman who disappeared from the World’s Fair Hotel run by H. H. Holmes. [Photo by Jessica Sherman, courtesy Sacred Fools Theater Company.]