Tony Goldwyn Helmed PAL JOEY to Hold Lab in November

In December of 2017 it was revealed that Tony Goldwyn was directing a new revival of Pal Joey, aiming to make it to Broadway in 2018. As the industry goes, there has been little evidence of this plan being realized, but an Equity casting notice has just gone out seeking at new Joey for an upcoming lab to be presented in November. Richard LaGravenese pens the revised book.

With music Richard Rodgers and lyrics by Lorenz Hart, and set in Chicago in the late 1930s, Pal Joey is the story of Joey Evans, a brash, scheming song and dance man with dreams of owning his own nightclub. Joey abandons his wholesome girlfriend Linda English, to charm a rich, married older woman, Vera Simpson, in the hope that she'll set him up in business.

Goldwyn previously directed a reading of the musical in 2016.

The lab is seeking an actor for the role of Joey as well as ensemble dancers:

JOEY EVANS late 20's-late 30's. This character is African-American. Jazz singer, with big ambitions to be a star performer in 1930's Chicago. Confident, charming, amoral, Joey can be a romantic heel who uses women to his own advantage (until he falls in love for the first time). At heart, Joey is an artist - devoted to a jazz sound ahead of it's time. Fighting uphill battles of racism and the Depression, Joey will let nothing stop him to be on top. Baritone - Baritenor with ability to understand the idiom of jazz and it's idiosyncrasies.

ENSEMBLE DANCERS:
Characters are African-American women, 20s. Excellent dancers who sing well. Dancers in a Chicago jazz club in 1940.

Visit the audition notice here.

The most recent Broadway revival of Pal Joey was produced by the Roundabout Theatre Company in 2008. This production featured a new book by Richard Greenberg, based on the original book by John O'Hara, with music direction by Paul Gemignani, and choreography by Graciela Daniele. Joe Mantello directed.

The score includes such classic songs as "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered," "I Could Write a Book," "You Mustn't Kick It Around," and "Zip," among others. The new production also featured "I'm Talking to My Pal," a song that had been dropped from the score during its out-of-town tryout, and which was heard on Broadway for the first time in the revival.

Photo Credit: Walter McBride / WM Photos