No, this isn't another Netflix production. In Edinburgh, a new stage musical with the same name as the true-crime series "Making a Murderer" -- one of the streaming giant's flagship documentaries -- will be making its debut in August. The show offers another way to highlight the tragedy behind this miscarriage of justice in the US.
Netflix does not own the title "Making a Murderer." And that, writer Phil Mealey understands. The award-winning screenwriter has admitted that he was inspired by the Netflix documentary to develop the stage show, titled "Making a Murderer: The Musical." The production is totally independent of the American streaming giant, which appears not have trademarked the show's title, according to Variety. The premiere will take place on August 3 during the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in Scotland.
The show will obviously revisit the same true-crime story told in the documentary: the tragic fate of Steven Avery, a young American who spent 18 years behind bars, wrongly accused of sexual assault and murder, as well as Brendan Dassey, his nephew, whose confession was allegedly extracted by police. "The production of 'Making a Murderer: The Musical' is not based on the Netflix documentary of the same name, but is based on the real-life events that took place during the trials of Steven Avery and Brendan Dassey," a spokesperson for the stage show told Variety. "The writers have taken public material as a basis for the production, with a new take and story elements to the trial and lives of those wrongly put behind bars."
The purpose of this project? To highlight the incoherence of certain aspects of the case that seems implausible. All of which proved a veritable gold mine for the writer: "As a writer I saw so many astonishing twists and turns and intriguing characters that if this were written as an original story no-one would believe it was plausible," Phil Mealey told Variety. "Our intention is to highlight and parody the inconsistencies in the case where people with power have not used that power fairly or effectively."
The cast includes Matt Bond ("Little Shop of Horrors") as Steven Avery, Amanda Beveridge ("High Road") as Mrs. Avery, and Nicky Filshie ("Mary Poppins") as Kathleen Zellner, Avery's lawyer.
