The unbelievable journey of Memphis The Musical continues! I'm very proud of this award and grateful to all the fans for supporting my work. MEMPHIS will open on the West End in London next year and we just signed a deal to make Memphis the motion picture!! And my new show CHASING THE SONG is in development and coming to Broadway in 2014. Thanx again.... David
Musicals take years to get to the stage. Was that frustrating, especially for someone coming from the rock world?
It took us eight years to get to Broadway, and [that span of time is] two rock 'n' roll careers (laughs). It's such a long, painful road. Every time you put up the production you learn from it. You make it better.
You're currently working on another musical?
Our next one, about the '60s and the Brill Building songwriters, is called "Chasing the Song." We've started that process which is, once again, a long one. Hopefully, it's a little shorter because I have three Tonys on my mantelpiece.
Before Memphis, I had never considered working on a musical. But when Joe DiPietro sent me the script, I heard the entire score in my head. I love the Memphis sound. When I was 16-and-a-half, with my driver’s permit, I was playing New Jersey clubs in a 10-piece band; we had a horn section and would play great, great songs like “Hold On! I’m Comin’” and “Knock on Wood” and “Midnight Hour.” I read Joe’s script and thought, “This is not just entertainment, it’s entertainment that matters.” It had such a strong, important message, I knew I had to be a part of it.Read the full article here.
I don’t find writing for the theater that different from writing a rock song. A song is always a character’s journey; it’s just in a different format when it’s played on the radio, with a chorus that has a repeating lyric and everything leads back to that. With Memphis, I knew right away with that we could tell this story in song in a way that wouldn’t be boring.
You have been with the rock group Bon Jovi for more than 25 years. What do you think is the key to the band’s continued popularity?
Writing good songs, making good records, and always giving your all at every live concert.
During all the years it took for MEMPHIS to get to Broadway. What compelled you to continue with the process?
It’s not a sprint but a marathon! Every time we did a production, we worked on the show and we learned where it was and where we had to take it. A musical is very complicated. You have to create story, songs, and dance, and they all have to work together. The fine tuning process happens in front of an audience and that takes many, many hours to get right. But it was easy to persist, because I always believed that MEMPHIS is a show that entertains and tells an important American story.
How is writing song for a rock band different than writing songs for a Broadway musical?
In a rock band, you’re just writing for the voice of the lead singer. In a musical, you have many different characters you have to make sing. Still ultimately, a good song is a good song.
You have won many honors as a rock musician, including winning a Grammy Award. How was the Tony® awards presentation different than the Grammy Awards?
The three Tony® awards I won is unbelievably special. It was a long road with MEMPHIS, but I always believed in our show. To be honored and welcomed by the Broadway community for my work feels great. And it is just the start. Joe and I have a new show in the works called Chasing The Song (about American song writers from 1962-1964). We’ll continue to create new works for a long time.
TORONTO - As a kid growing up in Jersey, about the only piece of musical theatre Bon Jovi keyboardist David Bryan remembers seeing is "Fiddler on the Roof."Read the full article here.
"I'm a good Jewish boy from Edison, New Jersey so I went and saw 'Fiddler on the Roof' because you have to, that's part of your bar mitzvah experience," Bryan said in a recent telephone interview from New York City.
"I just didn't see that many shows, it was more about the rock concerts."
Shout! Factory and Broadway Worldwide, Inc. have announced a new deal to bring Broadway's 2010 Tony Award-winning Best Musical Memphis to Blu-ray in the U.S. and Canada. Under this multi-year agreement, Shout! Factory will be the exclusive home entertainment distributor to release Memphis featuring the original Broadway cast. The Blu-ray will hit retail shelves in 2012.
from Memphis: The Musical
at Bon Jovi's May 19 concert. from the Memphis show because I know some people have been complaining about Bobby Bandiera's solos on it. Well, Phil X is playing the solo here (You can't see him, because the camera is on Jon the whole time, but you can hear it). Bob played an acoustic guitar.The Tony Award winning duo spoke with Rudetsky about their upcoming project now in the works; a musical about a group of songwriters during the early 1960's working in New York City's historic Brill Building. Considered a city landmark, the Brill Building was once the centerpiece of America's music industry, with writers, musicians, record companies and promoters calling the office space their home. The tale will follow a talented female songwriter who comes up against some harsh obstacles in a male-dominated industry. "The irony will be that after all her hard work, everyone will be out of a job once the Beatles invade America in 1964", explains DiPietro.
The writing team recalled MEMPHIS' long journey from its earliest beginnings in Palo Alto in 2003 to its 2010 Tony Award for Best Musical. "In a way, the buzz and anticipation for the show to come to New York was great for us", muses DiPietro. "The longer we didn't do it, the more people couldn't wait to see it". Adds Bryan, "We became urban legends".
.The road to Memphis - just announced to tour Columbus next season - was a long one for musician David Bryan.
"It took me eight years to get to Broadway, so for me it doesn’t feel like an explosion. It feels like a slow burn," Bryan said.
A founding musician with Bon Jovi who continues to tour with the gold-record group, Bryan made his Broadway debut last season as composer of the bluesy and rockin' score of the 2010 Tony winner for best musical.
So how did a guy who grew up in New Jersey, studied classical music for 15 years, played in a 10-piece band as a teenager and toured the world as a rocker wind up winning the 2010 Tony award for best score in his Broadway debut?
You’re either part of the problem or part of the solution.Full post at this link.
And it appears Bon Jovi is the former.
As he laments the passing of vinyl records and cover art, he’s overcharging and overtouring to the point where tickets have to be sold at a discount. This is good for business how?
And the reason I’m picking on Bon Jovi is he’s number one, the biggest touring act. And we depend on our leaders to lead, not to undermine the business.
The musical will show on 530 screens nationwide during an exclusive run on April 28 & 30 and May 3 at 7:30PM, and a special matinee on May 1 at 12:30PM.For more info, visit Fathom Events. And check out the teaser trailer (yes, Dave is in it :P ).
As previously announced, the original Broadway cast of Memphis was captured live in performance from January 18 to January 21 at the Shubert Theatre, using multiple high definition cameras and 96 tracks of sound recording for this special Fathom event presentation.
Insiders speculate that Efron is interested in the lead role of Huey Calhoun, a 1950s-era Memphis radio DJ played onstage by Chad Kimball.Read the full article here.
Sources said Efron hung out with the cast during intermission and gushed over female lead Montego Glover. "When Montego came over, Efron said, 'I just can't stay away from the show,' " reports a witness.
Efron also attended the show in July on the same night he and "[High School] Musical" co-star Corbin Bleu spent $2,000 at Flashdancers.
Although there are no concrete plans yet to adapt "Memphis" for the big screen, Efron isn't the only actor in the hunt. Justin Timberlake saw the show in May, about the same time director Oliver Stone checked it out.
What were your initial impressions on your first visit to Japan in the ’80s, and how do you feel about Japan today?
Japan is like our second home, you know? We’ll be down there in November, and it’s always our second home. I remember going there [in 1984], our first year playing Super Rock [Festival], and it was very isolated, if you will, and now, with the Internet, the world is way less isolated…everything’s becoming everything. It’s a very special place, very special fans, and the Japanese have embraced us, and it’s great, you know? We’re going to go back there and play and I’m going to bring Memphis there, too. Memphis is going to be a huge musical in Japan.
Compared to other Western rock bands, Bon Jovi is still hugely successful in Japan, selling out the biggest stadiums with each tour and enjoying healthy record sales. What do you think is the key to the group’s long lasting appeal over there?
As a band, we’ve strived to stay current. Our new record, The Circle, was Number One in 15 countries, you know, we just strive to be current, not just go, “Okay, the last record did good and that’s it.” You want to hear “Livin’ on a Prayer” and “Wanted Dead or Alive” on the radio, but yet you want to hear us playing the new song “We Weren’t Born to Follow.” So, the idea is that we keep pushing the envelope, keep pushing new songs and keep trying to better ourselves and keep expressing ourselves. Other than that, as a live band, we’ve always committed to walking on that stage and leaving your heart on the stage. We put out 150 percent every time we walk out on stage.
My whole goal today is to not get hit by a bus. I found something that I truly love. At the hundredth show for Memphis, I probably hadn’t seen it in about a month. It’s such a wild experience because you have given it away. It’s in your soul and then you give it away, and when you watch it all go down there’s a sense of removal that it’s not me. I’m sitting back enjoying it and going, “Holy f***, I actually did this?” It’s such a mountain of work. It’s 15 hour days for six weeks. It’s insane. You walk into that building, and the workload is insane. To me, when I look at the finished product, I am completely satisfied in every inch of that show and care about every inch of that show. That is so rewarding to see that, and then to be also teaching audiences a little something while still entertaining them. I can do that until I’m 100 years old.
On the tour we came in with our master list of about 90 songs, just to keep the boredom out. We first learn them, then walk into the sound check and play them. We’ve been playing some old ones from the first record. We’ve played “Roulette” and “The Hardest Part Is The Night”. Songs we haven’t done in forever. It’s fun to do that stuff.They haven't actually performed "Hardest Part", though we know it's been soundchecked... I wonder if it'll make an appearance. Maybe even during this O2 residency?
In 2001, a script came through the script gods and fell in my lap, and it was Memphis. Joe DiPietro had written it. He had shopped it around for couple years for a composer, and he was looking for an authentic rock composer not a theater rock composer. Not that that’s bad or good, but I am what I am. He had some lyrics put in there already, and I read the whole script. When you see Memphis, I saw that finished product in my brain. I knew it had to be horns, I knew every one of the songs. I called him up and said, “Joe, David Bryan from Bon Jovi.” He was like, “Okay.” “Listen, I hear every one of your songs in my head.” “Okay. Do you hear other things in your head?” I go, “Yeah, but we can talk about that later.” He said, “Okay, pick a song and take it from there.” I said, “I’m also a lyricist. Can I do mess around with the lyrics?” “Yeah, just have fun with it.” So the first song I picked was “Music Of My Soul” because I saw that that was the heartbeat of our lead character. That’s what meant everything to him. The chorus was there and some lines were there, but I added some things. I did that and went down into my studio, and I got the drum machine going. I played piano, bass, organ and guitar on it. I sang lead and all the background vocals. It mixed it onto a CD and FedExed it to him. He got it the next day and was expecting some whiny little thing on a cassette tape piano, and he said, “If you’re not crazy, you’ve got the gig.” I said, “I’m a little crazy, but I’ll take the gig.”
