RIALTO CHATTER: Mitchell to Helm BALLROOM for Bway in 2012?

According to Variety, a recent industry reading of the 1978 musical Ballroom has incited some speculation about a 2012 Broadway revival with Jerry Mitchell at the helm as director/choreographer.

The revival, however, would not be a strict recreation of the original show; the musical would be retitled Queen of the Stardust Ballroom and would feature a number of new songs penned by Marvin Hamlisch, famous for collaborating with Ballroom's original director-choreographer Michael Bennett on the wildly successful A Chorus Line. The songs would be added to the show's original score by composer Billy Goldenberg and lyricists Alan and Marilyn Bergman. In addition, Jerome Kass is rumored to be reworking his original 1978 book for the musical.

The reading featured Tyne Daly as Bea Asher, the widow who falls in love with a mail carrier she meets at a dance hall. Other performers present were Broadway veterans Lucie Arnaz, Keith Carradine, Julia Murney and Rondi Reed. None of the performers are attached to the show as of yet, and no production plans are set in stone.

Based on Kaas' teleplay for the 1975 Emmy Award-winning television drama Queen of the Stardust Ballroom, the plot focuses on lonely widow Bea Asher, who becomes romantically involved with Alfred Rossi, a mail carrier she meets at the local dance hall. Her dream of a happily-ever-after relationship is shattered when she discovers Alfred hasn't been as honest about his personal life as she thought. After eleven previews, the Broadway production, directed and choreographed by Michael Bennett, opened on December 14, 1978 at the Majestic Theatre, where it ran for 116 performances. The cast included Dorothy Loudon as Bea and Vincent Gardenia as Alfred. The sets were by Robin Wagner, and Theoni V. Aldredge designed the costumes. The production was Bennett's first project following A Chorus Line three years earlier.

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