It was announced Wednesday that The Heart of Rock and Roll, a musical comedy based on the music of Huey Lewis and the News, will open on Broadway in April 2024. In September, Huey Lewis told ABC Audio that he has high hopes for the production, which has been years in the making.
“It’s smart and funny, and I think it’s really entertaining,” Huey said of the show, which incorporates hits like “The Power of Love,” “If This Is It,” “Stuck With You” and “Workin’ For a Livin.'”
“And the musical director has done a marvelous job framing each song in a much different way than it was originally done, and it tells a wonderful story,” he added. “It is a jukebox musical, so we need to get by the critics. But hopefully it’s smart enough and funny enough and loaded with talent.”
Rather than simply handing over his songs, Huey has been deeply involved in the creative process, which he called amazing.
“I mean, they had to make me a producer because I’ve got to look after the music, obviously, and … I had to change the lyrics, [to] make it work for the musical,” he explained. “But now they’ve made me a producer, they have to listen to me everywhere. So we’ve been working on all parts of this thing for years now and it’s very exciting.”
Coincidentally, a current Broadway show already features Huey Lewis and the News songs: the musical based on the movie Back to the Future. If that show is still running when The Heart of Rock and Roll opens, Huey says, “We’ll have two songs — ‘Power of Love’ and ‘Back in Time’ — in two shows. And that’s never happened in Broadway history.”
Tickets are on sale now via Telecharge.
Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
