‘MURDER AT THE GATES’ – A KILLER NEW MUSICAL WITH BOOK & LYRICS BY STEVEN SATER & MUSIC BY JAMES BOURNE

‘Murder At The Gates’ is a killer new musical, with book and lyrics by the Tony, Grammy and Olivier Award-winning Steven Sater (‘Spring Awakening’) and music, production and songwriting by the chart-topping, multi-Platinum musician James Bourne, who himself was nominated for an Olivier Award for ‘Loserville’. More than a decade in the making, it features an array of major talents from the stage and screen. The concept album for the forthcoming new musical is set to be released on 1^st July 2026 and is launched alongside the first song ‘Fuckin’ Scream’ which features vocals from Gaten Matarazzo, best known for portraying fan favourite Dustin in the global phenomenon ‘Stranger Things’. 

‘Murder At The Gates’ is ‘Cluedo’ meets ‘Clueless’, a black-comic murder mystery from a Gen-Z, gated-community America. It’s a dark and stormy night. Cameron’s birthday. To her horror, her rugged, entitled Dad is throwing her a party to help her get over the worst year ever. The sudden death of her mother and a gruesome break-up from her soul-mate, the poet-rebel Ethan. And so, the stage is set. A Murder Mystery Party!
 
All of Cam’s supposed friends arrive in costume. It’s all going splendidly, until the party “murder” occurs. And somehow, it’s real. Someone’s dead. And now, the security system locks down. Are they locked in with some maniac? Or is the killer one of them? Knives out, one by one, all the guests start to go down. At least, the night has a theme: It’s Your Party, and You’ll Die if They Want You.
 
Steven Sater says, “Back in the day, when I was first conceiving ‘Spring Awakening’, I was urged to update the story to contemporary times. As I suspected, that didn’t work. But that energy spilled into ‘Murder at the Gates’, a black comic look at how totally effed life can be as a young person today.” 
 
James Bourne adds, “Unfortunately, my illness prevented me from touring last summer, but it allowed me to complete this project of my dreams, ‘Murder at the Gates’.” 

The first song from the album, ‘Fuckin’ Scream’, features Gaten Matarazzo in the role of Graham. Living up to his stage background in the likes of ‘Rent’ and ‘Les Misérables’, his vigorous punk rock performance captures the panic and the fear of a friend caught in the murderous mayhem of this dark and stormy night. Sonically it hits the homicidal halfway house of two of James Bourne’s main musical passions – like the pop-punk rush of My Chemical Romance catapulted into a blood-splattered rock opera.
 
In addition to Gaten Matarazzo, ‘Murder At The Gates’ features a stellar cast of exemplary talents who have earned critical adoration onBroadway and/or in the West End. It includes Milo Manheim (Disney’s ‘Zombies’ series); Isa Briones (‘The Pitt’); Joy Woods (a Tony and Grammy nominee for ‘Gypsy’); Helen J Shen (‘Maybe Happy Ending’, ‘The Devil Wears Prada 2’); Mason Alexander Park(‘Much Ado About Nothing’, ‘Cabaret’); Casey Likes (Marty McFly in the original Broadway run of ‘Back To The Future: The Musical’); and the vastly experienced Ramin Karimloo (‘Love Never Dies’, ‘Pirates!’, ‘Les Misérables’). 
 
An early version of ‘Murder At The Gates’ previously played at the New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts in 2013 before two rehearsed readings at The Other Palace, London, in 2019 and more recently, a workshop with Madison Wells Media in NYC in 2024.
 
The ‘Murder At The Gates’ soundtrack is available to pre-order / pre-save.
 
‘Murder At The Gates’ tracklist:
 
1. ‘Something That’s Sure’ – with Isa Briones
2. ‘The Mirror Sighs’ – with Milo Manheim and Isa Briones
3. ‘A Fine Rigor Mortis’ – with Milo Manheim featuring Mason Alexander Park
4. ‘Love, Cream, & Sugar’ – with Joy Woods
5. ‘Our Country Bleeds’ – with Gaten Matarazzo and Casey Likes
6. ‘Lady Fingers’ – with Helen J Shen
7. ‘Mortified’ – with Milo Manheim
8. ‘Put Another Love to Bed’ – with Mason Alexander Park
9. ‘It’s Nothing’ – with Ramin Karimloo and Milo Manheim
10. ‘Girl Went Down’ – with Joy Woods
11. ‘Cameron the Lonely’ – with Isa Briones
12. ‘Fuckin’ Scream’ – with Gaten Matarazzo
13. ‘No One Sits On High’ – with Isa Briones