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Thrill Me - The Leopold and Loeb Story

 
Richard Beck Review by Richard Beck 3 Published: 18 Apr 2026 Waterloo East Theatre Show Dates: 16 Apr 2026-1 May 2026

Marking 15 years since Thrill Me: The Leopold & Loeb Story made its London premiere, the musical is revived at Waterloo East Theatre, directed by Gerald Armin with musical direction by Richard Seaman.

An opportunity to see how this extraordinary story became transformed into a musical

The theatre world is awash with musicals and it’s easy to wonder whether there is anything that cannot be told through the genre. Stephen Dolginoff certainly stretched the boundaries when he came up with the book, music and lyrics for a show that relates the true story of a 14-year-old boy’s murder.

Nathan Leopold (Jamie Kaye) stands before the parole board, yet again, after 30 years’ incarceration for the crime in which he was complicit. As the voice-over officer (Richard Cunningham) questions him about his current state of remorse, he re-enacts episodes of the crime with its instigator, Richard Loeb (Rufus Kampa).

They were both brilliant, highly educated and privileged young men about to set out on successful careers as Chicago lawyers. Yet both were deeply flawed individuals. Loeb initially got his thrills from petty crime, which had to keep escalating in order to get a satisfactory buzz. Arson developed into pyromania with its associated sexual gratification. Then he discovered the writings of Nietzsche and cast himself as a superior man, infallible, untouchable and not bound by society’s norms.

Leopold was obsessed with him and overwhelmingly sexually attracted to him. Loeb went along with this, but only as a tool of control, rationing favours in return for compliance in his criminality, including the plot to commit the perfect, undetectable murder. What does not emerge until the story of their arrest and imprisonment unfolds is the undermining counterplot so carefully executed by Leopold to meet his own ends.

This minimalist production relies on six sets of independently located blocks to create levels. The absence of a naturalistic set hampers immersion in the period, locations and reality of the story. Consequently, lighting by Jonathan Simpson, while changing the moods, has little to work off. Penny Topsom fares better with the costumes that capture the period and, in the case of Loeb, highlight his posh, flamboyant characteristics.

Kampa and Kaye competently deliver the vocals with clarity, against a basic piano accompaniment, but the chemistry between them often seems thin, emotionally restrained and lacking menace, all of which undermine the complex, manipulative nature of their relationship.

Will it thrill you? Probably not, but it is an opportunity to see how this extraordinary story became transformed into a musical.

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The Blurb:

To mark 15 years since its London Premier, Thrill Me returns in this bold new production, with its gripping, intimate musical retelling of the infamous Leopold and Loeb case.

In 1924 Chicago, two brilliant young men — bound by desire, ego and a secret pact — spiral from petty crimes into an audacious act that shocked the world. As Nathan Leopold relives his intoxicating, manipulative bond with Richard Loeb, the audience is pulled into a tense psychological duel where seduction blurs with control and ambition turns monstrous.

With its taut, atmospheric score and razor‑sharp storytelling, Thrill Me has captivated audiences across the globe, earning critical acclaim from New York to London, Seoul to Sydney. Celebrated for its intensity, elegance, and haunting emotional power, this two‑hander musical remains as provocative and compelling today as the true crime that inspired it a century ago.