Why did you choose Leopold and Loeb, as opposed to someone like Jeffrey Dahmer or John Wayne Gacy?
SD: I think the art form of musical theater is a little artificial—people don’t sing in real life. In that respect, musical theater is somewhat removed from the present day, and that makes it easier to swallow. I also found that there were sexual and power-play aspects to their relationship, and that was intriguing. The crime happens in the plot of the play, but it’s not really the story of the show. D: Do you worry people will think it’s a comedy when they find out it’s a musical? SD: When you hear the term “musical theater,” it’s easy to think about comedy—that’s a valid point. But the most famous musicals are very dramatic. The most successful musical of all time is The Phantom Of The Opera, and that’s about a murder. D: Why do you think Leopold and Loeb’s story has permeated the collective consciousness? SD: I think it was because of who they were. They were so intelligent—they were prodigies, and graduated college when they were 18 or 19 years old. When they were on trial, they we
