Interview: Zack Zadek Celebrates DEATHLESS Album Release at Joe's Pub

Celebrate the release of new album Deathless: Original Studio Cast Recording with a special release concert on Thursday, November 13 at 9:30 pm. In addition to the show’s creator Zack Zadek, the evening will feature members of the album cast, as well as special Broadway guest artists, performing songs from the show as well as a few never-before-heard sneak peaks from Zadek’s upcoming projects. Tickets are available HERE.

Deathless, released in digital and steaming formats on Friday, November 7, is a new indie-folk musical with music and lyrics by Zack Zadek The album – which features orchestrations and additional production by Justin Goldner and Zack Zadek – is produced by Doug Schadt (Maggie Rodgers’ Alaska), with Jonathan Brielle and Kurt Deutsch serving as executive producers. Stream the album at ghostlightrecords.lnk.to/DEATHLESS 

The Deathless studio cast includes performances from both rising and established stars from music, theater and film, including Kevin Atwater (acclaimed singer/songwriter), two-time Tony Award nominee Jeremy Jordan (Floyd Collins, Newsies), Sara Kays (celebrated singer/songwriter), Maia Reficco (Hadestown, “Pretty Little Liars”), and Nicolette Robinson (Waitress).

In a world where the cure for aging and natural death has been released in America, Hayley Serling and her family take a road trip across the country to Niagara Falls to process the loss of her mother, and decide whether or not to live forever without her. A unique hybrid that features recording artists alongside actors, Deathless is a moving and intimate indie folk musical.

We spoke with creator Zadek, pictured above, about the show.

How does it feel to have the cast album to your new musical coming out? 

I honestly sort of can’t believe that the album is actually out in the world now! You know, we’ve been working on this album for quite literally years  - we decided to really approach this with a full studio process, so it was done over many, many sessions in Brooklyn, New York, Los Angeles, New Jersey – a real labor of love for some time. And while we were obviously excited by the sound of the album as it was being crafted in the studio, you never quite know if actual listeners will resonate with what you’re making. So, it’s been really gratifying to see people engaging as deeply as they have been with DEATHLESS from all over the world – both musically, and narratively.

Our team has been joking that the cast on the album is sort of like assembling The Avengers of music and theatre onto one record – you have Kevin Atwater and Sara Kays, who are both these amazing indie singer/songwriters (who have never been part of a musical before); you have Jeremy Jordan and Nicolette Robinson, who are two of our strongest leading actors on Broadway; and then you have Maia Reficco, who sits squarely between both of these worlds. So as a theatre and music fan myself, perhaps more than anything I’m just stoked that all these people sing on one album together – let alone songs I happened to write [laughs]. It’s kind of like a fever dream of my personal favorite artists.

Do you have anything special planned for the cast album release show?

Oh yeah. What’s going to be fun about the release show is that we have a bunch of the artists from the album singing what they recorded live for the first time. And on top of that, we have a ton of other artists from Broadway and beyond singing songs from DEATHLESS, and songs from other musicals of mine. I mean Morgan Dudley, Jordan Fisher and Jane Bruce – two of the stars of a show of mine called THE TURNING – debuting songs from that show. And…some even more very special surprises that I can’t even tell you about. You’ll have to come to find out!

Where did the idea for Deathless originally come from?

I’ve always been sort of obsessed with the big existential questions that shape, you know, being alive. And in the midst of a personal existential spiral, I had the thought, “Okay, well, if you didn’t have to age and die, would that alleviate the issue? How would that change the human condition and all the things that come with it – family, friendship, meaning, everything.” And as I pulled on that string, the cause and effect of what a mass pill to live forever would look like started to come into focus.

As a writer, I’m often drawn to stories that take place against the backdrop of a broader world, yet are lensed in very narrowly on a handful of specific characters who we get to examine the psychology and relationships of. So, learning about how the potential for immortality would ripple through life and society through the Serling family became particularly exciting for me dramatically.

I think one of the most interesting things since starting work on the show is, there are so many startups and companies who are now talking about trying to get to the pill in DEATHLESS in real life. It’s a bit stranger than fiction reading actual news that sometimes sounds like it’s from our show.

You’re going to be doing a few songs from other upcoming projects you’re working on at this Joe’s Pub show. Is there anything you’re able to share about those new works now?

Yes! Well as I mentioned, THE TURNING is a folk thriller of mine that we’ll do a few songs from for the first time at the concert. And then there’s some songs from a musical called SATELLITES that’s a commission for Ars Nova, one of my favorite theatres in NYC, that we’ll do a couple sneak peaks of. And I’ve been quietly working on a few different stage projects based on different studio films – but nothing more I can say about those at the moment.

Is there anything else you’d like to add?

I’m just really excited that DEATHLESS is out in the world – you can go stream it anywhere you listen to music. And if you follow me on social media (@zackzadek) or the show (@deathlessmusical), we have lots of other pieces of the story we’ll be sharing in the coming weeks. And updates on the future of the show itself!

Learn more about Zack Zadek on Instagram @zackzadek

Stream the new album at ghostlightrecords.lnk.to/DEATHLESS