Concise, efficient total syntheses of ningalin A (I), lamellarin O (2), lukianol A (3), and permethyl storniamide A (5) are detailed on the basis of a common heterocyclic azadiene Diels-Alder strategy (1,2,4,-5-tetrazine --> 1,2-diazine --> pyrrole) ideally suited for construction of the densely functionalized pyrrole cores found in the three classes of marine natural products. Examination of the natural products and a number of synthetic intermediates revealed that some including lamellarin O (2) and lukianol A (3) exhibit modest cytotoxic activity against both wild-type and multidrug-resistant tumor cell lines. Fundamentally more important, a new class of agents including permethyl storniamide A (5) and its precursor 30, which lack inherent cytotoxic activity, are disclosed which reverse the multidrug-resistant (MDR) phenotype, resensitizing a human colon cancer cell line (HCT116/VM46) to vinblastine and doxorubicin at lower doses than the prototypical agent verapamil.