RIALTO CHATTER: Dove & Middleton's INNOCENCE Headed to Broadway in 2012-2013?

BroadwayWorld has learned that a new musical called INNOCENCE just did a low-key reading at The Banff Centre in Alberta last week and now the theatrical community around the world is nosing around. What is INNOCENCE? The days surrounding the assassination and funeral of President John F. Kennedy are the background for the new show, examining the hopes, expectations and emotional significance of that time through the eyes of several people who felt the loss deeply.

Written by the hot British team of Jonathan Dove and Alasdair Middleton, the reading was put together by producer Bill Haber (Monty Python's Spamalot, National Theatre's History Boys, etc.) with The Banff Centre. Several Broadway landlords came sniffing, and now it looks like INNOCENCE could come to New York as soon as the 2012-2013 season.

Dove is known for his work for the City of Birmingham Touring Opera, including reduced versions of Wagner's Ring and Janá?ek's The Cunning Little Vixen. He has written film and musical theater, having particularly close ties to The Almeida Theatre, The National Theatre, The Royal Shakespeare Comapny and others. Operas include Flight, Glyndebourne; Tobias and the Angel, Almeida; and Enchanted Pig and Adventures of Pinocchio, on which he partnered with Middleton. He additionally scored a fanfare and new arrangement of the national anthem for the opening ceremony of the Millennium Dome.

Alasdair is a British lyricist and librettist.  His opera libretti include Everything Money Can Buy (The Opera Group), Out Of The Ordinary (The Opera Group), The World Was All Before Them; composer, Matthew King, Lessons from Harmony; composer, Matthew King, On London Fields; composer, Matthew King (2005), The Hackney Chronicles; composer, Jonathan Dove, Red Riding Hood; composer, Jonathan Dove, On SpitAl Fields; composer, Jonathan Dove (2006), The Enchanted Pig; composer, Jonathan Dove (The Opera Group at the Young Vic, 2006), The Adventures of Pinocchio; composer, Jonathan Dove (Opera North / Sadlers Wells, 2007), The Feathered Friend; composer, Helen Chadwick (Riverside Studios), and A Bird in Your Ear; composer, David Bruce.

BroadwayWorld will continue to bring you updates as we learn more!