Development Workshop of Brainpool's JUNK: A ROCK OPERA Set for this Month

Swedish Grammy-winning pop band Brainpool (Christoffer Lundquist, David Birde, Jens Jansson) are in New York City for a week-long development workshop of their rock opera JUNK, following two sold-out concerts of songs from the show (Pieces of JUNK) performed by a cast of Broadway performers at Joe's Pub earlier this year.

Brainpool's last trip to the states was for a 2007 showcase production of JUNK at the Steve Allen Theatre in Los Angeles, which transferred to the Lyric Theatre in West Hollywood and extended for 36 sold-out performances. The rock opera is being developed in collaboration with American director Shakina Nayfack, who produced and directed the Los Angeles productions as well as the Joe's Pub events and a standing-room-only concert reading of the show at the National Opera Center last fall. Brainpool reportedly intends to release two new albums later this year, one of them being a New York cast recording of JUNK.

While casting for the album has yet to be announced, the upcoming development workshop includes Anastacia McCleskey (Book of Mormon), Daniel Luis Domenech (Rock of Ages), Freddie Kimmel (Superfly), Mary Kate Morrissey (Hair National Tour), Lauren Marcus (Pregnancy Pact), Natalie Wachen (Rent), Mike Backes (Jersey Boys), Dannny Bacalao George (Sister Act National Tour), Paul Louis Lessard, Amanda Savan (On The Records), and Michael Linden (Hair National Tour). Jeremy Robin Lyons is music directing.

The workshop, set to take place November is closed to the public.