Billy Joel Says He Turned Down Offer to Compose Score for A BRONX TALE

The newly-opened Broadway musical A BRONX TALE features a wonderful score from eight-time Academy Award winner Alan Menken and three-time Tony Award nominee Glenn Slater. However according to The Daily News, the creative team had a different composer in mind when they first envisioned the musical.

At a party for Robert DeNiro's new film "The Comedian," multi Grammy Award winner and Rock 'n Roll Hall of Famer Billy Joel revealed that he had been asked to pen the score for the project but turned down the offer.

"They originally asked me if I would do the music," Joel told the Daily News. "I didn't say no at first, but I realized I had already done that kind of thing. I'd done an album called 'An Innocent Man,' which was kind of an homage to that era, and I just felt like it would be redundant if I would have done it again. I had a lot of work otherwise so they got Alan Menken, and he did a good job."

Joel's 1983 album "An Innocent Man" was the musician's tribute to R&B and doo wop music of the 1950s and 1960s and resulted in his second Billboard number-one hit, "Tell Her About It." It also included such hits as the Smokey Robinson-inspired "Leave a Tender Moment Alone," the Frankie Valli-influenced "Uptown Girl" and the doo-wop tune "The Longest Time."

The songs of Billy Joel were featured in the 2002 Broadway jukebox musical MOVIN' OUT, conceived by Twyla Tharp. The musical told the story of a generation of American youth growing up on Long Island during the 1960s and their experiences with the Vietnam War. The principal characters are drawn from those who appeared in various Joel tunes: high school sweethearts Brenda and Eddie ("Scenes from an Italian Restaurant"), James ("James"), Judy ("Why Judy Why"), and Tony (Anthony in "Movin' Out").

The musical went on to receive nine Tony Award nominations including Best Musical. Twyla Tharp won the award for Best Choreography while Billy Joel and Stuart Malina picked up the tony for Best Orchestrations.