Adam Pascal to Direct FEELS LIKE THE FIRST TIME - THE FOREIGNER MUSICAL at The Tilles Center
The show features “Cold as Ice,” “Waiting for a Girl Like You,” “Urgent,” “Hot-Blooded,” “I Want to Know What Love Is,” and more.
By: Chloe Rabinowitz Feb. 12, 2026
In collaboration with legendary rock band Foreigner, Tilles Center for the Performing Arts and Long Island University’s Post Theatre Company revealed the creative team and performance schedule for the first production of Feels Like the First Time – The Foreigner Musical. The show will take place at the Little Theatre on LIU’s Brookville campus, where it will play eleven performances beginning Friday, April 17, 2026, through Sunday, April 26, 2026. Tickets going on sale Friday, February 13 at noon.
This groundbreaking collaboration unites Tilles Center for the Performing Arts and LIU’s Post Theatre Company to develop and stage an electrifying new musical inspired by the iconic music of one of rock’s most celebrated bands, Foreigner. Following a developmental workshop of the musical last fall featuring LIU students, the production will feature a company of 26, including primarily LIU students and select professional actors to play age-appropriate adult roles. Full casting will be announced at a later date.
Set in 1985, Feels Like the First Time – The Foreigner Musical follows an ordinary suburban family whose lives are turned upside down when they win an extraordinary MTV sweepstakes: a weekend visit from rock icon Simon Bash, capped by a private concert in their own backyard. While the Davis family eagerly prepares for Simon’s arrival, their neighbors' attitudes quickly change, each hoping to leverage the superstar’s presence to boost their own social standing, save careers, or land a prom date. Convinced that Simon, the ultimate “Juke Box Hero,” holds the solution to all their problems, they soon discover just how wrong they are when he stumbles off the tour bus.
Powered by some of the biggest hits in rock history, the musical tells the story of three families whose lives need to get rocked in order to take risks, mend old wounds, and rediscover what love really means. Blending humor and heart, Feels Like the First Time features Foreigner favorites including “Cold as Ice,” “Waiting for a Girl Like You,” “Urgent,” “Hot-Blooded,” “I Want to Know What Love Is,” and more.
This first production is directed by Tony nominated Adam Pascal (RENT, Aida, Cabaret, Chicago, Something Rotten!), who also serves as Long Island University’s inaugural 2025/26 Artist-in-Residence. The creative team includes book writer Stephen Garvey (The Bardy Bunch, Five Golden Rings, Stages of Rita: The Rita Hayworth Musical), orchestrator and arranger David Abbinanti (Heartbreak Hotel, Saturday Night Fever: The Musical, Ghost: The Musical), and choreographer Lorna Ventura (The Other Americans, Public Theater, Destiny of Desire, Old Globe Theater, Broadway Original Company/Associate Choreographer Wicked, Nice Work if You Can Get It, All Shook Up, Grease).
Feels Like the First Time – The Foreigner Musical is produced under Long Island University’s just launched New Works Initiative, established by Tom Dunn, Creative Producer, Executive and Artistic Director of Tilles Center, and Dean of LIU’s College of Arts and Design. The initiative serves as an incubator for developing and refining new theatrical works by both emerging and established writers.
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