Gordon Greenberg (‘The Heart of Rock and Roll’ director) on the ‘joy and buoyancy and fizz’ of Huey Lewis and the News musical [Exclusive Video Interview]
“What we both shared was a love for those movies we grew up with in the 80s: the John Hughes, ‘St. Elmo’s Fire,’ all the way through ‘Less Than Zero,’” remarks Gordon Greenberg about how he and book writer Jonathan Abrams approached their new musical “The Heart of Rock and Roll.” Those classic movies served as a touchstone for the director, who says they “shared what now feels like an innocence, but I think at that point felt horribly sophisticated,” adding that character Ferris Bueller (Matthew Broderick) “felt like a very edgy young man to me.” His aim for the musical was to “bring that style, that effervescence, and that generosity of spirit to the show.” Watch our exclusive video interview above.
“The Heart of Rock and Roll” tells an original story using the songbook of Huey Lewis and the News. The musical follows an ambitious production line worker Bobby (Corey Cott) who is torn between advancing to an executive position within his company and pursuing a career as the lead singer of a band. The musical tried out years ago at the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego, and between that production and the Broadway run – which opens at the James Earl Jones Theatre on April 22 – Greenberg perfected its “delivery of joy and buoyancy and fizz.” He explains, “We found a core humanity and truth in the characters that allowed us to keep making them deeper and truer.”
WATCH our exclusive video interview with Jonathan Abrams, ‘The Heart of Rock and Roll’ writer
The most significant change the director and his creative team made between San Diego and New York was the time period of the show, which originally “took place in the vague now” before transforming into a 80s period piece. Most of the events unfold in what Greenberg calls an “imaginary version of the Drake Hotel in Chicago” that they’ve turned into a “‘Grand Budapest Hotel’ version,” referring to the Wes Anderson film that won four Oscars including production design. If these sound like big changes to make to a show from one production to the next, the director admits that he’s “a tinkerer” and adds, “Moving into the 80s was something I felt was what the show wanted… It just did wonders for the show and it made sense of a lot of the plot and a lot of the people.”
The musical makes smart use of Huey Lewis’ music, adapting the original context of his songs to fit the new story crafted by Abrams. Greenberg cites the number “Stuck With You” as the most challenging to get right. In the show, it is performed by Tucker (Billy Harrigan Tighe), an ex-boyfriend of protagonist Cassandra (McKenzie Kurtz), who wants to win his old flame back. As the director explains, “We tried it straightforward, we tried it as a big dance number, and then I finally had this notion that if we were looking at the ‘Stepford Wives’ idea of what his perfect life would be… it makes her decision really clear.” The end result is a hilarious pantomime of the nightmare Cassandra might experience as a suburban housewife after giving up her important position at her family company. “Once we put it up,” he says, “we kept amplifying it and amplifying it and putting a fun house mirror on it.”
WATCH our exclusive video interview with Lorin Latarro, ‘The Heart of Rock and Roll’ choreographer
Kurtz also gets one of the two standout solos in the second act as she and Cott each deliver an 11 o’clock number. Hers is the song “It Hit Me Like a Hammer,” in which Cassandra vocalizes her feelings for coworker Bobby, and his is “The Only One,” during which Bobby recounts the death of his father, who was also a struggling musician. Greenberg stages these numbers very simply, allowing the performers to deliver them straight to the audience. “I think they both have such rich, soulful inner lives as actors and as characters… If there’s too much movement and too much busyness, it diffuses what’s actually coming out of your head and heart,” explains the director about how he approached these pivotal moments. He also wanted to highlight Lewis’ songwriting, admitting that he felt “gobsmacked” when he and Abrams came across “The Only One.” He notes, “The greatest storytelling often comes out of simplicity.”
“The Heart of Rock and Roll” marks Greenberg’s return to Broadway after eight years; his most recent outing was “Holiday Inn” back in 2016. He describes the homecoming with this musical in particular as “especially gratifying and just delightful.” “I think the pandemic gave us all both some perspective on theatre versus life and how the two feed off one another,” reflects the director, confessing, “I reached a point where I feared I would never be back inside a theater.” In contrast, he now feels that “this is everything I could have hoped for.”
PREDICT the 2024 Tony Awards nominations through April 30
Make your predictions at Gold Derby now. Download our free and easy app for Apple/iPhone devices or Android (Google Play) to compete against legions of other fans plus our experts and editors for best prediction accuracy scores. See our latest prediction champs. Can you top our esteemed leaderboards next? Always remember to keep your predictions updated because they impact our latest racetrack odds, which terrify Hollywood chiefs and stars. Don’t miss the fun. Speak up and share your huffy opinions in our famous forums where 5,000 showbiz leaders lurk every day to track latest awards buzz. Everybody wants to know: What do you think? Who do you predict and why?
SIGN UP for Gold Derby’s free newsletter with latest prediction