The year is 1973 and it's all happening. Led Zeppelin is king, Richard Nixon is President, and idealistic 15-year-old William Miller is an aspiring music journalist. When Rolling Stone magazine hires him to go on the road with an up-and-coming band, William is thrust into the rock-and-roll circus, where his love of music, his longing for friendship, and his integrity as a writer collide. Almost Famous is about a young man finding his place in the world and the indelible characters he meets along the way. It's a celebration of community, family, fandom and the power of music.
Theatre-goers who favor musicals derived from popular movies constitute a subspecies. If one may generalize, they want a product that cleaves pretty closely to the source material, ideally with some original songs and witty dialogue thrown in. Novel twists to the plot? Not so much. Thus, for those of us who attend shows hoping to be ushered through challenging, uncharted situations, these reenactments can be a bit of a bore. London-based director Jeremy Herrin does his utmost to pep up this musicalized revenant of the hit 2000 movie. Cameron Crowe, the original author/protagonist (it's based on his own teenage quest) wrote the book and co-crafted the lyrics with composer Tom Kitt (Next to Normal). They've worked in a few amusing allusions to the limitations of pre-internet communications, so there's that, in terms of novelty. Kudos are also due the skilled contributors who concretize the narrative in 3D: clever, adaptable set by Derek McLane, period (1973) costumes by David Zinn, evocative lighting by Natasha Katz (that thunderstorm!), just-short-of-deafening sound by Peter Hylenski.
It needs to be said that as the established songs of tunesmithing brilliance and others moderately serviceable emerge, they're sung by a cast of first-rate rock belters, led by the likes of Likes, Pfeiffer, and Wood. Patrons are advised not to leave before the curtain-call finale, when each of the gifted ensemble barrels forward to show his or her sizzling stuff. 'Penny Lane' is not delivered entirely or partially. So, McCartney's memorable lyric isn't heard about the Penny Lane nurse who 'though she feels as if she's in a play, she is anyway.' Crowe's Penny Lane is in a play, a musical -and not an especially powerful one, at that.
2019 | San Diego, CA (Regional) |
The Old Globe Premiere Production San Diego, CA (Regional) |
2022 | Broadway |
Original Broadway Production Broadway |
Year | Ceremony | Category | Nominee |
---|---|---|---|
2023 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Music | Tom Kitt |
2023 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Sound Design of a Musical | Peter Hylenski |
2023 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Wig and Hair | Campbell Young Associates |
2023 | Theatre World Awards | Theatre World Awards | Casey Likes |
2023 | Tony Awards | Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics) Written for the Theatre | Tom Kitt |
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