The Public Theater (Artistic Director Oskar Eustis; Executive Director Andrew D. Hamingson) announced today that it would team again with Hair producers Jeffrey Richards and Jerry Frankel to bring the critically acclaimed rock musical BLOODY BLOODY ANDREW JACKSON to Broadway in the fall. Following a successful run at The Public Theater, BLOODY BLOODY ANDREW JACKSON will begin performances at the Bernard Jacobs Theatre (242 W. 45th Street) on Tuesday, September 21.
A co-production with Center Theatre Group and in association with Les Freres Corbusier, BLOODY BLOODY ANDREW JACKSON is written and directed by Alex Timbers and features music and lyrics by Michael Friedman. Complete casting to be announced at a later date.
Following a sold-out run at Public LAB in 2009, BLOODY BLOODY ANDREW JACKSON returned to The Public for a full main stage production and opened to acclaimed reviews on April 6. It received an Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Off-Broadway Musical, a Drama Desk Award for Best Book of a Musical and a Broadway.com Audience Award for Favorite Off-Broadway Musical. When the show closed on June 27 after three extensions, BLOODY BLOODY ANDREW JACKSON was the second highest grossing show in The Public Theater's downtown history.
A complete original cast album from Sh-K-Boom/Ghostlight Records, produced by Kurt Deutsch and Dean Sharenow, will be released in early fall; the album will include hits like "Populism, Yea, Yea," "Rock Star," "I'm Not That Guy," and "The Hunters of Kentucky."
The Public will transfer BLOODY BLOODY ANDREW JACKSON to Broadway with co-producers Jeffrey Richards and Jerry Frankel who partnered with The Public on the Tony Award-winning revival of Hair on Broadway, London's West End and the upcoming national tour of Hair beginning in October in Washington, DC.
"BLOODY BLOODY ANDREW JACKSON just can't be stopped. The voracious audience demand for this extraordinary show is forcing us to kick it up a notch and take it to Broadway," said Public Theater Artistic Director Oskar Eustis. "Alex Timbers and Michael Friedman have created an extraordinary event- a rocking, hilarious, sparkling entertainment that is also one of the smartest critiques of America ever seen on a stage. This is what The Public Theater is all about-and I couldn't be prouder of all the artists involved."
BLOODY BLOODY ANDREW JACKSON, an audacious mix of historical fact and invention, uses the story of America's controversial seventh president-the man who invented the Democratic Party, doubled the size of our nation and signed the Indian Removal Acts that started the Trail of Tears - to investigate the attraction and terrors of American populism, using a raucous blend of outrageous comedy, anarchic theatricality and infectious emo rock.
The design team for BLOODY BLOODY ANDREW JACKSON will again feature scenic design by Donyale Werle, costume design by Emily Rebholz, lighting design by Justin Townsend, sound design by Bart Fasbender, and choreography by Danny Mefford.
ALEX TIMBERS (Writer/Director) is Artistic Director of Les Freres Corbusier. Recent Directing: The Pee-wee Herman Show (Club Nokia), Hell House (also adaptation; Drama Desk nomination for Unique Theatrical Experience), Gutenberg! The Musical! (Drama Desk nomination for Best Director of a Musical), A Very Merry Unauthorized... (also conceiver; OBIE Award; Garland Award-Best Director), Peter and the Starcatchers (Disney Theatricals/La Jolla), The Language of Trees (Roundabout), Heddatron, Boozy, Dance Dance Revolution (writer of latter two, all Les Freres), and Beyond Therapy (Williamstown/Bay Street).
MICHAEL FRIEDMAN (Music and Lyrics) is an Associate Artist with the Civilians and has composed music and lyrics for the company's This Beautiful City, [I Am] Nobody's Lunch, Gone Missing and Canard, Canard, Goose?; as well as Saved, In the Bubble,The Brand New Kid,God's Ear and The Blue Demon. With Steve Cosson, he co-authored the 2008 Public LAB production Paris Commune. He has been a MacDowell fellow, a Hodder Fellow, and is an Artistic Associate at New York Theatre Workshop. He received an Obie award for sustained achievement.
BENJAMIN WALKER (Andrew Jackson) received rave reviews for his portrayal of Andrew Jackson in Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson at The Public Theater. He has appeared on Broadway in Les Liaisons Dangereuses and Inherit the Wind. His off-Broadway credits include workshops of Bye Bye Birdie and Threepenny Opera for Roundabout, Spring Awakening for Lincoln Center, and Arrangements at the Atlantic. He appeared in Romeo and Juliet and Lady Windermere's Fan at the Williamstown Theater Festival, and in the films The War Boys, Flags of Our Fathers, The Notorious Bettie Page, and Kinsey.
THE PUBLIC THEATER (Oskar Eustis, Artistic Director; Andrew D. Hamingson, Executive Director) was founded by Joseph Papp in 1954 and is now one of the nation's preeminent cultural institutions, producing new plays, musicals, and productions of classics at its downtown headquarters and at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park. The Public's mandate to create a theater for all New Yorkers continues to this day onstage and through extensive outreach and education programs. Each year, over 250,000 people attend Public Theater-related productions and events at six downtown stages, including Joe's Pub, and Shakespeare in the Park. The Public has won 42 Tony Awards, 151 Obies, 41 Drama Desk Awards and four Pulitzer Prizes. The Public has brought 52 shows to Broadway, including Sticks and Bones; That Championship Season; A Chorus Line; The Pirates of Penzance; The Tempest; Bring In ‘Da Noise, Bring In ‘Da Funk; On the Town; The Ride Down Mt. Morgan; Topdog/Underdog; Elaine Stritch at Liberty; Take Me Out; Caroline, or Change; Well; Passing Strange; and, most recently, the current Tony Award-winning revival of Hair.
www.publictheater.org.
Photo Credit: Joan Marcus
