PIECE OF MY HEART Headed to Broadway in Spring 2015?

It looks like Broadway may have another jukebox musical opening next spring.

According to Deadline.com, the children of Bert Berns, songwriting contemporary of Carole King, Gerry Goffin, and many other '60s artists, are pushing to have, Piece of My Heart: The Bert Berns Story, the Off-Broadway bio musical about their father, taken to the Great White Way.

Having already put $9 million into the project to move it to Broadway, Brett and Cassie Berns are looking to their friend Sir Paul McCartney for support for the show. Despite not being Broadway producers or even documentary filmmakers, the Berns children are learning the ropes. "We admit we're total novices," says Brett, "We took a beating for being a jukebox show. We could see the bias the critics had for the genre, but we weren't prepared for the attacks on Cassie and me. It seemed personal." He also points out that they began work on the musical before Broadway was brimming with jukebox musicals like JERSEY BOYS, MAMMA MIA!, and the plethora of others currently running.

"Our mission started 10 years ago," Cassie says. "I learned you are the one that you've been waiting for," referring to herself. "I have the ability, passion, the drive and the vision to do it. No one else will, if we don't."

"This has been a journey of discovery," she says. "Bringing him back to life every night and feeling those things we got across, I feel like I've gotten to know him better by seeing him on that stage. People come up and say 'That's Bert - that's Bert up on that stage."

Bert Berns, whose life is also the subject of the just-released book Here Comes the Night, was born in New York in 1929 and died tragically of a heart attack at just 38 years of age. But in his short career, Berns left an indelible mark on popular music; he made fifty-one pop chart singles in seven years and became one of the most successful songwriters of the 1960s. Piece of My Heart: The Bert Berns Story tells his remarkable story, once dubbed by Rolling Stone "one of the great untold stories of rock and roll," through his hit songs, which include "Twist and Shout," "Tell Him," "I Want Candy," "Hang On Sloopy," "Cry Baby," "Piece of My Heart," and many more.

PIECE OF MY HEART just concuded its Off-Broadway run, which started performances on June 25 and got an extended run, through September 14. The full cast of PIECE OF MY HEART included Zak Resnick as Bert Berns, Drama Desk Award nominee Leslie Kritzer as Jessie, Theatre World Award-winner Linda Hart as Ilene, Joseph Siravo as Wazzel, Tony Award nominee de'Adre Aziza as Candace, Derrick Baskin as Hoagy, Bryan Fenkart as Young Wazzel, Teal Wicks as Young Ilene, and Mark Zeisler as Jerry Wexler, with an ensemble that includes Carleigh Bettiol, Teresa Gattison,Shonica Gooden, Sydney James Harcourt, Jessica McRoberts, Ralph Meitzler, Harris Milgrim, Michael Millan,Heather Parcells, Gabrielle Ruiz, and Amos Wolff.

The creative team for Piece of My Heart: The Bert Berns Story also included Alexander Dodge (Scenic Design), David C. Woolard (Costume Design), Ben Stanton (Lighting Design), Carl Casella (Sound Design), Charles G. LaPointe(Hair and Wig Design), Garry Sherman (Music Supervision, Orchestrations & Arrangements), Lon Hoyt (Music Direction and Additional Vocal Arrangements) and Telsey + Co. (Casting).

Check out a highlights video!

Photo Credit: Jenny Anderson