Nobody’s approached Bruce Springsteen about turning his acclaimed new memoir into a musical. But he’s certainly open to the idea.
I met Springsteen, briefly, at a party for his best-selling “Born To Run” the other night at Maialino. When I asked if there was any Broadway interest in his book, he said, “Not yet.”
“I’ll float it in my column,” I said.
“Great,” he replied.
It seems like an excellent idea to me, but so far the only person who’s had it is Don Imus, who’s been praising Springsteen’s book on his radio show since it was published. “The book is outstanding,” he told me on the air. “Just a portion of his life would make a great musical.”
“Best idea I’ve heard since ‘The Lion King,’ ” I said.
“I can’t imagine that a bunch of people haven’t already thought that,” Imus said.
Well, they haven’t. So I called a few producers the other day to sound out their interest. (I ask for nothing, but perhaps Imus should get a finder’s fee.)
“I haven’t read the book yet, but I’ve read about it — all the good reviews,” one top producer says. “It can be tricky, though. Remember we had the Sting musical and the Bob Dylan musical. They didn’t work.”
The “Sting musical” was “The Last Ship,” which had an original score by Sting — and lost most of its $14 million investment. The “Dylan musical” — “The Times They Are A-Changin’ ” — used Dylan’s back catalog. Directed and choreographed by Twyla Tharp, it collapsed a month after opening to blistering reviews.
‘Remember we had the Sting musical and the Bob Dylan musical. They didn’t work.’
- A producer
Those two shows notwithstanding, there’s a market for autobiographical musicals about pop and rock icons. “Jersey Boys,” the Four Seasons musical, wraps up an 11-year-plus run in January. It’s been produced all over the world and grossed $1.7 billion. And “Beautiful: The Carole King Musical” regularly grosses $1 million a week.
Less successful was “Motown: The Musical.” Its return engagement last summer was a fiasco, but it had a robust national tour and will probably be mounted all over the world.
“There’s no question Broadway audiences are embracing rock and pop music more than ever,” another producer says. “Our audience is so much bigger now than traditional musical-theater fans.”
But it’s all in the story. And Springsteen has a hell of a tale to tell, from his hardscrabble childhood to his struggles in the music business of the ’70s to superstardom, with bouts of depression and anxiety along the way.
Springsteen’s catalog alone is worth a musical: “Born To Run,” “Born in the USA,” “Glory Days,” “Hungry Heart.” Even “Rosalita” comes with a back story: They dated as teenagers, and her mother threatened to get a court injunction to keep him away from her.
Yes, there’s plenty of drama in “Born To Run,” but it’ll take a good playwright to sort it out.
I vote for Doug McGrath, who wrote “Beautiful.” As for the director, Des McAnuff (“The Who’s Tommy,” “Jersey Boys”) knows how to make rock and pop work on Broadway.
All we need now is a producer. I bet a few of them are on the line this morning barking, “Get me the Boss!”