Stephen King: My Musical Will Be the 'Anti-Spiderman'

The wait is over: Horror writer Stephen King's first play, The Ghost Brothers of Darkland County, featuring haunting melodies by rocker John Mellencamp, is finally ready for the stage. The musical was originally scheduled for its debut at Atlanta's Alliance Theatre in 2009, but was postponed. It's now set to open next April at the Alliance. The show eventually may make it to New York, but King said he wasn't thinking big.

The project originated about 11 years ago, says King "We aimed at the idea of a small stage, a small cast and small tech requirements, sort of the anti-Spiderman. John wanted real Americana music, blue jeans music, and I loved that idea," he said. The unlikely author-rocker duo came together after Mellencamp had an idea to do a play about ghosts and sibling rivalries, set in the South. Mellencamp told his agent he wanted a writer like Stephen King, only to discover that his agent was also King’s agent. (More Stephen King stories.)