Time to break out the leg warmers, because “Flashdance: The Musical” is coming to Broadway in August 2013. The exact dates, theater, and casting have yet to be announced.
“Flashdance-The Musical” is inspired by the 1983 film. The story is about a blue-collar girl named Alex Owens from Pittsburgh. Alex is a steel mill welder by day and a bar dancer at night. She has big dreams of attending a prestigious ballet academy one day. A romance forms between Alex and her boss Nick Hurley, which inspires her to pursue her dream even more.
A Broadway production of “Flashdance” has been in the planning stages for a few years. Producer Marc Routh said the production would have had a fall or spring opening. However, that was changed because of the limited supply of Broadway theaters available, and it gave them more time to work on the Broadway run. Routh said the show was pushed to an August opening, because it will draw more attention to the show, since most shows open in the spring or fall.
In 2008, the production had its world premiere in the U.K. at Theatre Royal Plymouth and then the show toured the U.K. in 2009. The production opened at the West End’s Shaftesbury Theatre in September 2010 and ended earlier than expected on January 15, 2011.
The Broadway show will be “substantially rewritten and completely restaged under its new producing team following its London world premiere,” according to Broadway.com.
“Flashdance-The Musical” is based on the book by Tom Hedley (co-writer of the original screenplay with Joe Eszterhas) and Robert Cary, music will be Robbie Roth, and lyrics will be Cary and Roth. The director and choreographer will be by Sergio Trujillo of “Jersey Boys” and “Memphis.”
The Broadway run is in addition to the previously announced national tour that will start in January in Pittsburgh, where the movie took place. The tour will begin at Heinz Hall and make more than 25 North American stops.
According to CNN.com producer Routh said: “We are thrilled to be bringing Flashdance to Broadway. The new work we’ve already seen Sergio create in the studio is downright brilliant. He’s come up with new ways of storytelling through dance that bring you immediately to the heart of this iconic story of a girl with a dream in a way I’ve never seen. And we all remember where we were when we first heard these hit songs, they bring you back to a place in time. But what’s also exciting is how sixteen new original songs fit so seamlessly into the score, and will surely become standards of their own. We can’t wait to for audiences to embrace this new musical across the country on tour and then in the separate flagship production on Broadway.”
The film grossed over $150 million and the soundtrack won a Grammy Award. Fans of the film can expect to hear their favorite hit songs on stage including: “Flashdance – What a Feeling,” “Maniac,” “Gloria,” “Manhunt,” and “I Love Rock & Roll.”
The musical’s producer Routh also said, “I think one of the advantages is that with our title, we’re not relying on being blessed by the critics. The tourist market, the primary summer market, is well aware of our title. On audience surveys it ranks high for what people want to see. We’re optimistic of being able to attract audiences,” according to The New York Times.