Lerner & Loewe 'Paint Your Wagon' Rolls onto Tour, Broadway?

The Lerner and Loewe 1951 hit Broadway musical, Paint Your Wagon, will be launched by co-producers Christopher Allen, D. Constantine Conte (48 Hours, Persido), and Larry Spellman (Say Goodnight Gracie), for a cross-country tour to open on Broadway followed by a London production starting with Utah's Pioneer Theatre Company September 28 through October 13, 2007.  For information on the Utah production visit PioneerTheatre.org

"The musical is about a love affair between Jennifer Rumson, who is the daughter of a prospector, and a Mexican boy named Julio during the days of pioneers in the gold rush era," explain press notes, "It's 1852, and Ben Rumson is looking to strike it rich in the gold fields of California. He has raised his daughter Jennifer in the gold camps, and she has become a beautiful, if somewhat tomboy-ish, young woman. She's also the only woman for miles around, and some of the miners have become skittish around her. One day she meets and falls in love with Julio, a handsome young Mexican miner. When a lecherous miner with designs on Jennifer discovers that she loves Julio, he frames Julio as a gold thief, forcing them to run off together. Meanwhile, Ben strikes it rich, and an enterprising miner imports some beautiful "fandango" girls to keep the miners entertained. Ben finds himself falling in love with the lead fandango girl. The story plays out against some of the most striking and memorable show tunes in Broadway history - 'I Talk to the Trees,' 'They Call the Wind Maria,' and 'Paint Your Wagon,' among others - and the arrival of the fandango girls results in several big song-and-dance numbers."

The producers are looking forward to engaging a great designer to bring out some of the show's visual ideas romance, the seasons, the land, the exploitation of nature and the optimism of the get-rich-quick (or die) pioneer life.

Chuck Mores will direct the debut in Salt Lake City, UT and Scott Schwartz will direct the tour and on Broadway.  Schwartz directed the 2003 Broadway hit Golda's Balcony, and the Off-Broadway revival in 2004-2005 of The Foreigner, starring Matthew Broderick. 

The book and orchestrations have been revised significantly by David Rambo ("CSI" fame) and Steve Orich (Jersey Boys).  There will be a cast totaling 26 performers.