Many "American Idol" alumni have recently performed on Broadway, but now the show has inspired a musical of its own. This week we talk to Idol the Musical's producer Todd Ellis, composer/lyricist/performer Jon Balcourt, and performers Babs Rubenstein, Jennie Riverso, Courtney Ellis, and Roy George. We also hear two songs from the show, "Prima Donna Fabulous" and "Simon Says". Based on the "American Idol" fanbase, the musical is a satire of the worship of recent "Idol" runner-up, Clay Aiken. It takes place in a small town in Ohio, where a group of quirky high school students who belong to a club in which they worship a shrine to Clay are getting ready for their graduation. Recently produced in Syracuse, the show is now running Off Broadway at the 45th Street Theater, and began previews July 5th.
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Broadway Bullet Interview: Idol the Musical
BROADWAY BULLET: Well, even the news can't go many days without reporting on "American Idol," so it seemed inevitable that we were going to see a musical emerge around the sensation. And we do have Idol the Musical . We've got Todd Ellis, who is the producer, and we've got Jon Balcourt, who is the composer – he did the music and the lyrics – and he performs in the show. How are you guys doing?
Jon Balcourt: Great, how are you doing?
TODD ELLIS: Great.
BB: So, you guys came down here from Syracuse with the show, right?
TE: Basically. Yeah, we started the show in Syracuse. As the producer, I'm also the -- I have the original concept for the show. And Jon is from Syracuse. Bill Boland, who is the writer, is also from Syracuse, so after I came up with the concept, I hired these guys, put it in their hands, and they've given us an amazing musical.
BB. All right, so, the concept sounds -- I've got to say, a little strange!
TE: A group of students -- yeah, it's a group of students from Stubeubenville, Ohio, who worship and have built a shrine to Clay Aiken. Basically, it looks at how we worship idols in our society, and the lengths we'll go to to worship them. I mean, it goes back to Elvis. It goes back to the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, The Grateful Dead. Society has always worshipped those pop idols, and [the musical's] taking a look at that in a very funny, musical-comedy, parody way.
BB: Bye, Bye, Birdie. So, yeah, that brings a few things to mind. That answers half of the question, but let's delve a little further. Let's address the obvious: I think a lot of people out there think this sounds kind of silly. So, it probably is a little silly --
TE: Sometimes, you have to go through the silly to really get to the depth of the story, because if you look at our society -- and this show was written actually with social commentary among it -- to really look at the growth of these characters, how much they feel they have to relate to an idol to exist, rather than being able to exist on their own volition. And through the process of the play, we see their growth, and their realization that they can survive in society with or without idols.
BB: And, Jon, so, what was your process with the writing? Were you in tune right away with the whole theme, or did you have to --
JB: It was a bit of a rough start. We had a couple song title ideas, topics thrown around. About three of them that we had in the original pool of titles stuck with us until the end of the show, and then, once Bill came on board, we sort of veered off into a different direction than we had begun, and we have the show that we have now.
