Movin' Out | |
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Music | Billy Joel |
Lyrics | Billy Joel |
Premiere | June 25, 2002 : Shubert Theatre, Chicago |
Productions | 2002 Chicago 2002 Broadway 2004 North American Tour 2006 West End |
Movin' Out is a 2002 jukebox musical featuring the songs of Billy Joel. Conceived and created by Twyla Tharp, the musical tells the story of a generation of American youth growing up on Long Island during the 1960s and their experiences with the Vietnam War. The principal characters are drawn from those who appeared in various Joel tunes: high school sweethearts Brenda and Eddie ("Scenes from an Italian Restaurant"), James ("James"), Judy ("Why Judy Why"), Sergeant O'Leary and Tony (Anthony in "Movin' Out"). The show diverts from the traditional musical in that it essentially is a series of dances linked by a thin plot, and none of the dancers sing. Instead, all the vocals are performed by a pianist (the "Piano Man", representing Billy Joel) and band suspended on a platform above the stage while the dancers act out the songs' lyrics, basically making the show a rock ballet.
In 2000, Tharp approached Joel for permission to create the show, presenting him with a 20-minute concept video featuring the show's eventual Broadway cast. Joel was enthusiastic about it, but kept his involvement thereafter to a minimum. [1] The show started in pre-Broadway try-outs at the Shubert Theatre in Chicago from June 25, 2002, through September 1, 2002. The Chicago production was negatively received, and Tharp made extensive revisions to the show's first act, with some suggestions from Joel. [1]
It premiered on Broadway at the Richard Rodgers Theatre on October 24, 2002, to more positive reviews, [1] and closed on December 11, 2005, after 1,303 performances and 28 previews. Directed and choreographed by Tharp, the cast included Michael Cavanaugh (Piano Man), Darren Holden (replacement Piano Man), Wade Preston (alternate Piano Man), Elizabeth Parkinson (Brenda), John Selya (Eddie), Keith Roberts (Tony), Henry Haid (understudy Piano Man), Ashley Tuttle (Judy), Benjamin G. Bowman (James), and Scott Wise (Sergeant O'Leary/Drill Sergeant).
The first national tour of Movin' Out ran for three years, opening on January 27, 2004 [2] and closing on January 21, 2007, after 1,111 performances. The tour also played to generally excellent reviews and full houses in 82 U.S. cities, and also ran in Canada in December 2005. It featured numerous dancers from the original Broadway production, who rotated in and out as schedules allowed. Darren Holden was the primary lead Piano Man and star for the entire run of the tour, understudied by Matt Wilson (2004), Charlie Neshyba-Hodges (2004), James Fox (2005) and Matthew Friedman (2006). Holly Cruikshank, in the role of Brenda, won the 2005 Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Non-Resident Production.
The West End production opened on April 10, 2006, at London's Apollo Victoria Theatre where, despite receiving mostly solid reviews, it ran for less than two months, closing on May 2, 2006. James Fox and Darren Reeves were the leads.
The show played Tokyo, Japan in the summer of 2006, with many of the first national tour's performers including Darren Holden in the lead role.
A second national tour opened in Atlantic City on June 14, 2007, with Matthew Friedman and Kyle Martin in the lead role of Piano Man. [3]
A third National Tour opened in La Crosse, Wisconsin on November 4, 2008, with Matthew Friedman, Kyle Martin, and Jon Abrams in the lead role of Piano Man.
On October 15, 2002, a live cast recording was released featuring the 2002 original Broadway cast. It was a single CD featuring 30 tracks. [4]
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Year | Award Ceremony | Category | Nominee | Result |
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2003 | Tony Award | Best Musical | Nominated | |
Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical | John Selya | Nominated | ||
Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical | Elizabeth Parkinson | Nominated | ||
Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical | Michael Cavanaugh | Nominated | ||
Keith Roberts | Nominated | |||
Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical | Ashley Tuttle | Nominated | ||
Best Direction of a Musical | Twyla Tharp | Nominated | ||
Best Choreography | Won | |||
Best Orchestrations | Billy Joel and Stuart Malina | Won | ||
Best Lighting Design | Donald Holder | Nominated | ||
Drama Desk Award | Outstanding Musical | Nominated | ||
Outstanding Actor in a Musical | John Selya | Nominated | ||
Outstanding Actress in a Musical | Elizabeth Parkinson | Nominated | ||
Outstanding Director of a Musical | Twyla Tharp | Nominated | ||
Outstanding Choreography | Won | |||
Outstanding Lighting Design | Donald Holder | Nominated | ||
Theatre World Award | John Selya | Won |
Twyla Tharp is an American dancer, choreographer, and author who lives and works in New York City. In 1965 she formed the company Twyla Tharp Dance, which merged with American Ballet Theatre in 1988. She regrouped the company in 1991. Her work often uses classical music, jazz, and contemporary pop music.
James Richard Mullett, known professionally as James Fox, is a Welsh pop singer, songwriter, pianist and guitarist. He represented the United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest 2004 in Istanbul. In 2008, he wrote and recorded the Cardiff City F.C. FA Cup Final song, "Bluebirds Flying High".
"Movin' Out (Anthony's Song)" is a song written and recorded by Billy Joel, featured on his 1977 album The Stranger as the opening track.
John Selya is a professional dancer and choreographer. Selya was born in New York City and trained at the School of American Ballet. He joined the American Ballet Theatre in 1988, where he danced roles such as Birbanto and Lankendem in Le Corsaire, Lead Gypsy in Don Quixote, Head Fakir in La Bayadere, Dr. Coppelius in Coppelia, and an Ugly Stepsister in Ben Stevenson's Cinderella. He choreographed several ballets for the company, including Moondance, Jack and Jill, Don't Panic, Turnstile, and Disposition. In 2000, Selya joined Twyla Tharp Dance.
"Scenes from an Italian Restaurant" is a song from Billy Joel's 1977 album The Stranger.
The Times They Are a-Changin' was a 2006 dance musical featuring the songs of Bob Dylan, conceived, directed and choreographed by Twyla Tharp.
Ashley Tuttle is an American musical theatre actress and dancer who is best known for her role in the musical Movin' Out, which earned her a Tony Award nomination in the category of "Best Performance by a Featured Actress".
Michael Cavanaugh is an American actor and musician most famous for playing the piano and providing lead vocals in the band for the Broadway musical Movin' Out. Cavanaugh was handpicked by Billy Joel for this musical and appeared in the show for three years and over 1300 performances.
Ruthless! The Musical is an all-female musical with music by Marvin Laird and book and lyrics by Joel Paley that spoofs Broadway musicals, like Gypsy and Mame, and movies such as The Bad Seed and All About Eve. The musical premiered Off-Broadway in 1992.
Matthew Friedman is an American musician, singer and performer.
Scott Wise is an American theatre actor and dancer. He is known for his performances in the 1989 musical Jerome Robbins' Broadway, which earned him a Tony Award, and in the 2002 film Chicago.
David Rosenthal is an American keyboardist, musical director, music producer, synthesizer programmer, orchestrator, and songwriter, mostly known for working with the hard rock band Rainbow and Billy Joel. Rosenthal has been nominated for three Grammy Awards, and in addition to Rainbow and Joel, has worked with Bruce Springsteen, Enrique Iglesias, Robert Palmer, Steve Vai, Cyndi Lauper, Whitesnake, Little Steven, and Happy the Man. Additionally, Rosenthal has perfect pitch.
Reva Rice is an American musical theatre actress and singer, best known for originating the role of Pearl in Starlight Express on Broadway.
Holly Cruikshank is an American dancer. She is known for her role as Brenda in the Billy Joel/Twyla Tharp musical Movin' Out, and has also danced lead roles in two other Tony-award-winning Broadway musicals: Fosse and Contact. She has appeared as one of the house dancers on the NBC variety-competition show, The Singing Bee.
Darren Holden is an Irish singer-songwriter who has performed on Broadway as part of Riverdance and Movin' Out and in the national tours for both shows. His debut solo album was released in Ireland in 1998. He later joined the Irish folk group, the High Kings, along with Finbarr Clancy and Brian Dunphy.
Kyle Martin is a nationally renowned musician, piano player and singer originally from Sacramento, California and now resides in Las Vegas, Nevada. He is best known for his role as the "Piano Man" in the Billy Joel/Twyla Tharp Broadway musical, Movin' Out, during the 2007–2009 National Tour. Kyle has since led the band, JOEL, a Billy Joel tribute band, opening for George Thorogood, playing for Disney Parks, the Catalina Wine Mixer, the SF Giants, The World Senior Games, along with many theaters, festivals and wineries across the country.
Aaron Sillis is an English dancer and choreographer who has worked in many fields of dance, most notably working with leading international pop artists including Rihanna, Katy Perry, FKA twigs, Justin Bieber, Kylie Minogue, Mariah Carey and Leona Lewis.
Come Fly Away is a dance revue conceived, directed and choreographed by Twyla Tharp, around the songs of Frank Sinatra. The musical, set in a New York City nightclub, follows four couples as they look for love.
Keith Roberts is a professional dancer who performed in Twyla Tharp's Las Vegas show Sinatra Dance With Me, which opened on December 11, 2010, and ran through April 2, 2011.
Elizabeth Parkinson is an American stage actress and dancer. She is best known for playing Brenda in the original production of the musical Movin' Out. For this performance she was nominated for the 2003 Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical, the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actress in a Musical and won the 2003 Astaire Award for Best Female Dancer.