A musical adaptation of Cameron Crowe’s Oscar-winning 2000 film Almost Famous is set to begin Broadway previews this September.
The show, about a 15-year-old kid tapped to write for Rolling Stone, will be staged at one of New York’s Shubert theatres, with the exact theatre yet to be specified.
“Broadway fans and rock fans have so much in common,” Crowe, who wrote the original film as well as the book and lyrics for the musical, said in a statement. The writer-director considers a stage adaptation a natural fit for his semi-autobiographical story.
“Almost Famous has always been about the power of that connection: hearing a piece of music for the first time, looking into a person’s eyes and feeling the electricity, finding your tribe,” Crowe said.
The announcement that the 1970s era musical, which had its world premiere in Crowe’s hometown of San Diego, California in autumn 2019, would be moving to Broadway was accompanied by additional casting news.
The teenage journalist William Miller will be played by Casey Likes, who originated the role in San Diego. Chris Wood (The Vampire Diaries) will play Russell Hammond, the charismatic band leader played by Billy Crudup in the film. And the iconic role of Penny Lane – originally played by a teenage Kate Hudson – will be played by Hamilton alum Solea Pfeiffer.
The show’s limited San Diego run earned a positive review from that city’s Union-Tribune newspaper: “Like the movie, it’s brimming with memorably off-kilter characters and unalloyed joy."
Tickets for some dates have already been released.
