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.
I'm sorry to say that despite the intelligence of the 2000 movie on which it's based, and the track record of its creators, the stage musical misses every opportunity to be the sharp, smart entertainment it might have been. In retelling the story of a 15-year-old who gets sucked prematurely into the world of bands and groupies and roadies and drugs, it lands instead in a mystifying muddle, occasionally diverting but never affecting.
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 |
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