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.
In another devastating blow to the 'West Coast Has Taste' community, the musical Almost Famous has opened on Broadway, after a well-received premiere run in San Diego, to put another nail in that idealistic California coffin. It is a production so dull, with poor direction, ugly sets, uninteresting music, and flat performances, that it really needn't exist at all. Mind you, my beef here is mainly with the Pacific-facing critics who-be it through payola, their overall lack of theatre, or whichever self-help cult they've got going on over there these days-allowed me to raise my expectations for a show which counts among the most artistically lacking I've seen.
Warning: Do not re-watch the 2000 movie “Almost Famous” if you plan to see “Almost Famous,” the new Broadway musical. Because the movie is so good. And the stage version is so less good. Comparisons are anathema but seem unavoidable in the case of this musical, which marked its official Broadway opening Thursday night at the Bernard Jacobs Theatre. Cameron Crowe, who wrote and directed the movie, starring Billy Crudup and Kate Hudson, recycles the screenplay, including large chunks of dialogue, for the Broadway incarnation. And though Tom Kitt — winner of a Pulitzer Prize for his own, highly original musical, “Next to Normal” — collaborated with Crowe on some new songs, the show is not much more than a wan rewind of what transpired on-screen.
| 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 |
Videos