Dennis Locorriere former lead singer with Dr. Hook

In 1989 Dennis received a phone call from an old co-hort and collaborator, Shel Silverstein. Shel had just written a one-man play called 'The Devil and Billy Markham' which he wanted him to perform. Much to his own surprise Dennis immediately said yes and made plans to travel upstate. "I'd never considered being an actor until Shel rang me and asked me to do this play," he says, "It was such an uplifting, dynamic experience, it made me realise how much I'd missed working in front of a live audience. There's nothing like it!" The play ran to packed housed for 8 weeks at the prestigious Lincoln Centre in New York and needless to say Dennis' performances and the reviews were nothing less than brilliant. "Billy Markham and the Devil" takes the form of a long narrative poem which he tells the story of a down-on-his-luck blues singer who makes a desperate pact with the Devil and eventually comes out on top. The battle of wits between the Devil and Billy unfolds throughout an hour long ballad and involves a host of characters such as Hitler, Fatty Arbuckle and Chiang Kai-Sheck in bizarre situations including a weird pool game and a wedding between Billy's girlfriend and the Devil himself. .

Press Reviews:

Time 18/12/99 ...The sole performer, as both Markham and his demonic adversary, is Dennis Locorriere, erstwhile singer-songwriter of the pop group Dr. Hook. His energy is boundless, his timing flawless, his depravity seemingly bottomless in this bewitching romp.

New York Times Theatre Review, December 4, 1989 by Frank Rich .... Under Mr. Mosher's direction, Mr. Locorriere gives an ingratiating performance, and he works hard enough to break out in a hellish sweat. The audience's sweat is prompted by anxiety. Watching "The Devil and Billy Markham" is like being trapped at a bar with an amiable drunk who simply refuses to let go of your arm or his convoluted, often-told tale. You know the spiel won't end until one of you falls off his stool

Off Broadway Review: .... It is performed with gravely voiced gusto (and an impressive memory) by rock singer Dennis Locorriere....... Performed with great showmanship and elan by Dennis Locorriere (late of the rock group Dr. Hook), it's a little like a cross between a Grateful Dead song and Eddie Murphy's "Raw"... Shel Silverstein's "The Devil and Billy Markham" delivered in a bravura turn by Dennis Locorriere is an epic ballad in rhyme... A remarkable feat of memorization on Locorriere's part...it is also a mesmerizing performance of the storyteller's art. Locorriere grits-and-honey voice and his young Santa Claus appearance hold us in his spell from the first line to the last. (And he does it all with a mop, a guitar and a tiny harmonica as his only props)

LIFESTYLES Locorriere prowls the stage with manic purpose...He sings he dances and otherwise uses everything within him to keep us involved...

THE RECORD It's raucously performed by rock singer Dennis Locorriere. With his shoulder length locks and widely expressive voice, Mr. Locorriere makes both a lewd, seductive Satan and a cocky winsome Billy.

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL Locorriere held the audience in the palm of his hand throughout using nothing but a pail, a mop, a hat-stand, a guitar and his own incredible talent UPI ...Locorriere doesn't place a gesture wrong, or miss a single phrase in a performance of operatic bravado and wondrous comic braggadocio.

NEW York POST ...It's a phenomenal performance, not to mention a feat of prodigious memorization.

Dennis LOCORRIERE He's the honey-voiced charmer of Sylvia's Mother and the Ballad of Lucy Jordan HIFI News & Record Review
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