Sergio Trujillo, the acclaimed choreographer of Jersey Boys, Next to Normal and the forthcoming musicals The Addams Family and Memphis, will make his directorial debut with Havana, a new musical (not based on the film of the same name) with a book by Pulitzer Prize-winning Cuban author Nilo Cruz, music by internationally-renowned Frank Wildhorn and lyrics by Jack Murphy. Produced by Kathleen Raitt, William Franzblau/Jay Harris, Ben Sprecher/Louise Forlenza and Steven E. Leber/Jordan Leber, Havana, which is aiming for the 2010-11 Broadway season, will have a private industry presentation this week in New York.
In 1958, Havana was known as the "Paris of the Caribbean". Cuba was the decadent and oh so cool island playground for the rich and famous--socialites and mobsters alike--full of fabulous nightclubs with lavish entertainment and gambling casinos. On New Year's Eve 1959, Meyer Lansky's puppet, Cuban President Fulgencia Baptista, fled the country paving the way for Fidel Castro to assume power. The musical takes place just before the fall in that dangerous, sexy, alluring tropical powder keg called Havana.
Music Direction for Havana is by Joseph Church (The Lion King, The Who's Tommy) joined by Special Consultant/Dance Arranger, Oscar Hernandez, the renowned Grammy-winning Latin pianist and leader of the Spanish Harlem Orchestra. Multiple Tony-winners, scenic designer Scott Pask (Les Liaisons Dangereuses, The Coast of Utopia) and lighting designer Natasha Katz (The Coast of Utopia, Aida), along with Academy Award Winner Australian costume designer Lizzy Gardiner (Priscilla Queen of the Desert) are in discussions to join the design team. Havana will have its first developmental production at an unconfirmed LORT theatre prior to arriving on Broadway.
Sergio Trujillo has had an upward trajectory in the dance world for many years, first as a dancer (Jerome Robbins' Broadway, Fosse) and then as the choreographer of Jersey Boys, All Shook Up, Guys and Dolls and Next to Normal, among others. In the 2009-2010 season his work will be seen in two new Broadway productions, Memphis and The Addams Family. Trujillo takes the next step into hyphenate territory as both director and choreographer of Havana.
Born in Matanzas, Cuba, librettist, Cruz, won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2003 and was nominated for the 2004 Best Play Tony Award for Anna in the Tropics, which opened on Broadway starring Jimmy Smits and Daphne Rubin-Vega. His other plays include Beauty of the Father, Night Train to Bolina and Dancing on Her Knees. He has taught playwriting at Brown and Yale Universities.
Wildhorn's Broadway productions include Jekyll & Hyde, Victor/Victoria, The Civil War (nominated for a Tony Award for Best Score) and The Scarlet Pimpernel. He has four new works currently debuting in Europe and Asia and his latest collaboration, the musical Bonnie and Clyde, will open at the La Jolla Playhouse in November 2009.
Jack Murphy (Tony-nominated for The Civil War) has collaborated with Wildhorn on many projects, both as lyricist and bookwriter (Rudolf, The Count of Monte Cristo, Zelda, Wonderland). Murphy has also written and performed on recordings for many record labels, composed the score of Silver Dollar with Mary Bracken Phillips and wrote the play Gods of Autumn.
Photo Credit: Walter McBride/Retna Ltd.
