“The Heart of Rock and Roll” had its initial run in San Diego in 2018.
The “feel-great” musical is slated to begin previews at the James Earl Jones Theater on March 29 and open on April 22, with no cast announced yet. The show borrows its title from the song of the same name released by the 1980s pop-rock band that peaked at No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the spring of 1984, spending 20 weeks on the chart.
The $16 million show will be directed by Gordon Greenberg (Holiday Inn), with choreography by Lorin Latarro (The Who’s Tommy) and a book by Jonathan A. Abrams based on a story by Abrams and Tyler Mitchell.
Lewis and the News’ fourth album, 1986’s Fore!, scored the group their last No. 1 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 chart with “Stuck With You” spending three weeks at the top, along with another chart-topper, “Jacob’s Ladder,” which spent one week at the pinnacle. The album also featured the No. 3 hit “Hip to Be Square,” the No. 6 hit “Doing It All For My Baby” and the No. 9 charter “I Know What I Like”; the band landed their first No. 1 hit, 1985’s “The Power of Love” from the Back to the Future soundtrack.
Lewis posted an announcement about the show on Wednesday (Nov. 1) morning, in which he said he first fell in love with “all that is Broadway when I appeared as Billy Flynn in the musical Chicago in 2009. And I continue to believe that musical theater — because it’s so demanding — is also the most rewarding form of artistic expression.”
Lewis said his team has been working on the “funny and smart… lot of heart” show for a long time and that they’re very proud of the results. He also clarified that he won’t be appearing in it and that it’s not the story of his life, but that it does feature all the band’s biggest hits, including: “The Power of Love,” “Hip to Be Square,” “If This Is It,” “Doing It All For My Baby,” “I Want a New Drug,” “Jacob’s Ladder,” “Back in Time” and more.
Watch the Broadway announcement below.
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