Sunday, July 01, 2007

Broads on the Way

For those of you who like Broadway I just read some exciting news and thought I'd share the link:


Broadway News


XANADU and 9 to 5!!!! Holy hell! While Xanadu is exciting in and of itself in that lovely campy way ... 9 to 5 is the possibility that has me saving my nickles. Dolly Parton has written the music/lyrics and so it is destined to be wonderful! So far it's just had a book reading with Allison Janney as Violet but but.... it just HAS TO SURVIVE!


Meanwhile - I'm still waiting patiently for the Broadway treatment of Fried Green Tomatoes. The rights were purchased a couple of years ago (which briefly annoyed me since I'd already started drafting the musical ... I'd wrote a couple lines of lyrics for the opening song which was about finding a head in the garden ... and the whole thing was gonna be called "Whistle Stop"... I thought that was ingenious.) When it happened I scoured the available resources and found the address for the dude who'd purchased it and sent him a letter begging him to give it a musical treatment.


He didn't write back.


I still think it'd be great but it's more likely that they were planning a more Steel Magnolias interpretation.


But meanwhile .. The Color Purple seems to work! I'm getting my e-mail newsletters regularly and crossing my fingers for a Los Angeles visit on the tour.


Friday I went to see SHOW BUSINESS: THE ROAD TO BROADWAY which is ... eh... an OK documentary. The confusing thing was that Alan Cumming kept showing up and he wasn't a focus at all. He was like.. the narrator that wasn't narrating. In the end it became clear when the credits rolled and he was listed as one of the producers. Ahhhh!


Anyhoo.... after watching that I'm a nervous wreck about the fate of the Fried Green Tomatoes adaptation and the chances for 9 to 5.


SHOW BUSINESS: THE ROAD TO BROADWAY follows four musicals during a season leading up to the Tony's and 6 months following the awards. The four musicals it focuses on are Wicked, Caroline or Change, Avenue Q and Taboo (the Boy George musical). So if you have an interest in any of those titles - you might like the doc. Watching it made me A) Annoyed that I'm not bi-coastal. B) Really annoyed that I didn't get to see Taboo.



One day, New York City, I will meet you! (I'm looking at the sky and shaking my fists now.)


In other related topics... did you know Lestat was a musical? I discovered this on YouTube. Thank god for YouTube! I regret not seeing this either but my chances were slimmer.




And there's a lovely little campaign to release the cast album that was recorded but shelved when the play closed:




Anyone got an extra ticket to Wicked? I'd like to see it again.

No comments: