Andrew Durand Delivers a Career-Defining Performance in ‘Dead Outlaw’

An hour before a Wednesday evening performance, Andrew Durand climbed onto a stage platform at the Longacre Theater and started doing jumping jacks. “When I step onstage, I never want to feel like I just walked in from outside,” he explained between reps. “I aim to elevate myself physically.”

At 39, Durand is a familiar face on Broadway, earning his first Tony nomination this year for his portrayal in ‘Dead Outlaw,’ a new musical chronicling the extraordinary true story of Elmer McCurdy. McCurdy, a bandit fatally shot in 1911, had his preserved body displayed for decades as a sideshow curiosity and even appeared as a movie extra before ending as a prop in an amusement park ride.

The unique narrative requires Durand to spend the first 40 minutes of the show physically demanding himself by jumping on tables, climbing ladders, and hanging upside down, followed by another 40 minutes of near motionless stillness. To prepare, he undergoes a rigorous 30-minute workout before each performance to ready his body for this striking contrast.

“There’s so much intense movement, and then such prolonged stillness,” he said. “I don’t want my body to go into shock.”

Raised in a churchgoing family in suburban Atlanta, Durand’s passion for theater ignited at age 10 after attending a local community play. He became deeply involved—acting, painting sets, and selling popcorn. He even enlisted his family for the annual production of ‘A Christmas Carol.’ After attending an arts high school and a theater conservatory, Durand made his Broadway debut in 2008 as a replacement in ‘Spring Awakening.’

Early in his career, Durand admits he neglected physical conditioning, sometimes ignoring injuries. “I’m fairly certain I tore a rotator cuff during choreography, but we were young and just focused on having fun after the show,” he recalled.

His approach changed in 2011 when he joined Kneehigh Theater, a British company renowned for imaginative productions. The troupe’s warm-up routines—a blend of yoga, Pilates, and calisthenics—were integral, and Durand embraced them fully. Focusing on his body freed his acting, allowing emotions to flow naturally rather than being overly cerebral.

On the Longacre stage, with some crew working on the elevated platform, Durand began his warm-up on the floor. Known for playing villains and lifeless figures—Elmer is a mix of both—Durand presents himself as focused, genuine, and relentlessly friendly offstage. He used a foam roller and water bottle, carefully stretching his neck.

In the iconic photo of Elmer McCurdy, his corpse stands with hands twisted and his neck tilted left—a posture Durand held throughout the show’s Off-Broadway run in 2024. Now, he varies the position. His routine includes planks, side planks, and Pilates exercises to activate his core. “I do everything I can to ignite my core muscles,” he said.

Core strength is vital, especially as Durand now suspects a back injury and has scheduled an MRI for a potential slipped disk. While nerve pain is manageable during the show’s active segments, it intensifies when he lies on a coroner’s table, forcing him to flex and lift to ease discomfort.

Following that scene, Durand must remain perfectly still, sweat dripping from his exertion as he endures muscle cramps and dryness in his mouth until the curtain call. He carefully manages controlled breathing, toe movements, and blinks—the latter being the hardest, especially during a nearly minute-long sequence where the spotlight is fixed on Elmer’s face.

It is in this stillness that Durand feels most connected to Elmer, sensing his humanity. “At first, the audience laughs, but then they pause, reminded of what he endured,” Durand reflected. Though Elmer was no hero, Durand’s portrayal invites audiences to sympathize and hope for a better fate that never came.

Durand’s warm-up concludes with bridges, pelvic lifts, push-ups, squats, burpees, and mountain climbers, finishing atop the platform now cleared. His skin glistens with sweat. “I like to feel a little heat,” he said. Though he expects stiffness the next day, these moments before the show make him feel invincible, like Elmer at the height of his outlaw days.

Half an hour before curtain, Durand retreats to his dressing room to don costume and character, performing a brief vocal warm-up. Clutching a bloodstone gifted by his stepsister, fellow Broadway actress Paige Faure, he reflects on Elmer’s life and death, grateful for the chance to embody him with unwavering focus.

“I love being an actor,” Durand said. “I love putting on shows, and I treasure the new and unexpected challenges each role presents.”