Six years ago today, the uplifting musical Hands on a Hardbody, based on a documentary of the same name, opened on Broadway featuring Broadway favorites like Keala Settle, Jay Armstrong Johnson, and Allison Case! To celebrate the occasion, we're throwing it back to the show's opening night with the show's cast and their real life counterparts! Check out the footage below!
Hands on a Hardbody officially opened on Broadway on March 21, 2013 and played its final performance on April 13, 2013 after playing 28 preview and 28 regular performances at Broadway's Brooks Atkinson Theatre (256 West 47th Street).
Inspired by true events and based on the acclaimed 1997 documentary of the same name that was created by S.R. Bindler and produced by Bindler and Kevin Morris, the musical features a book by Doug Wright (Pulitzer Prize winner, I Am My Own Wife), lyrics byAmanda Green (Bring It On: The Musical), music by Trey Anastasio (Phish) and Amanda Green, direction by Neil Pepe (Broadway's Speed-The-Plow), and musical staging by Sergio Trujillo (Memphis, Jersey Boys).
For ten hard-luck Texans, a new lease on life is so close they can touch it. Under a scorching sun for days on end, armed with nothing but hope, humor and ambition, they'll fight to keep at least one hand on a brand new truck in order to win it. In the hilarious, hard-fought contest that is Hands on a Hardbody only one winner can drive away with the American Dream.
The Broadway production featured the full cast from the La Jolla Playhouse engagement: Keith Carradine (Tony Award nominee, The Will Rogers Follies), Allison Case (Hair), Hunter Foster (Tony Award nominee, Little Shop of Horrors), Jay Armstrong Johnson (Catch Me If You Can), David Larsen (American Idiot), Jacob Ming-Trent (Shrek The Musical), Kathleen Elizabeth Monteleone (Tales of the City), Mary Gordon Murray (Into The Woods), Jim Newman (Curtains), Connie Ray (Next Fall), Jon Rua (In The Heights), Keala Settle (Priscilla Queen of the Desert), Dale Soules (Hair), Scott Wakefield (Ring of Fire), and William Youmans (Wicked).
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