Is PAL JOEY Coming Back to Broadway Next Season?

Bewitched, bothered, and Broadway? According to recent Equity casting notices, a new version of Pal Joey, co-directed by Tony Goldwyn and Savion Glover, is soon casting for developmental work sessions in NYC. Their version of the show was presented at New York City Center in late 2023, and has been circling a Broadway bow since 2021.

This revivsed version of the  Rodgers and Hart-John O'Hara classic musical features a new book by Richard LaGravenese. It makes the primary setting of the plot in a South Side Chicago nightclub in the 1940's, and changes the character of Linda from a stenographer/clerk to an aspiring singer. This has enabled the creative team, with the permission of the Rodgers and Hart estate, to interpolate some of that team's greatest songs into an already memorable score.

The 2023 New York City Center cast included: Brooks Ashmanskas (Melvin), Jeb Brown (Tony), Loretta Devine (Lucille), Aisha Jackson (Linda), Elizabeth Stanley (Vera), and Ephraim Sykes (Joey).

Pal Joey originally opened on Broadway in 1940 and was last seen in a 2008 Roundabout Theatre Company revival starring Stockard Channing, Martha Plimpton and Matthew Risch.