This spring's biggest downtown hit was undoubtedly Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson. The New York Times called it "the season's best musical” and audiences flocked to The Public Theater to see what the daring young creative team Alex Timbers (writer/director) and Michael Friedman (composer/lyricist) had cooked up. Now, by populist demand, their bloody brilliant show is packing up its tight, tight jeans and heading to Broadway!
In Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, rising star Benjamin Walker reprises his role as America's first political maverick. A.J. kicked British butt, shafted the Indians and smacked down the Spaniards all in the name of these United States -- who cares if he didn’t have permission? An exhilarating and white-knuckled look at one of our nation’s founding rock stars, Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson recreates and reinvents the life of “Old Hickory,” from his humble beginnings on the Tennessee frontier to his days as our seventh Commander-in-Chief. It also asks the question, is wanting to have a beer with someone enough reason to elect him? What if he’s really hot?
Songwriter Friedman has always had an uncanny knack for the catchy hook and the clever lyric that rises to philosophical wistfulness. And here, he works in the surly emo-rock mode, finding exhilaration in the pent-up rage and nihilism that both demands center stage and shrinks from scrutiny. Not since Stephen Sondheim played bitter variations on “Hail to the Chief” for Assassins (1991) has a Broadway musical so starkly and brutally examined the underside of the American Dream. Particularly in the subdued penultimate number “Second Nature,” Friedman moves past the Sontag and Foucault namechecking to offer a hushed, plangent elegy for this land of strip malls over killing fields.
With their bloody-good 'Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson,' director-librettist Alex Timbers and composer-lyricist Michael Friedman have woven a scathing and topical satire on matters patriotic and political, and they've done it with the sound of emo rock, which might be hard to swallow for some traditional theatergoers. Downtown hit could prove a tough sell in a Broadway house, but the show's commercial producers have demonstrated keen marketing in the past, with diverse fare including 'Spring Awakening' and 'August: Osage County.' Word of mouth will loom large with this one.
2010 | Off-Broadway |
Public Theater Production Off-Broadway |
2010 | Broadway |
Original Broadway Production Broadway |
Year | Ceremony | Category | Nominee |
---|---|---|---|
2010 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Book of a Musical | Alex Timbers |
2010 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Music | Michael Friedman |
2010 | The Hewes Awards | Scenic Design | Donyale Werle |
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