Post by jo on Jan 30, 2013 4:22:16 GMT -5
This was the report from Broadway.com in October 2012 re the status of the HOUDINI project, posted on this board last year --
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Houdini Star Hugh Jackman is Working His 'Butt Off' Tackling Stephen Schwartz's ‘Greatest' Score
News By Jesse North October 12, 2012 - 1:01PM
'[The music] is vintage Schwartz, it’s gorgeous.'
After Hugh Jackman creates movie magic as Jean Valjean in Les Miserables, he'll perform spectacular illusions as Harry Houdini in a new Broadway musical about the famed magician. Directed by Tony winner Jack O’Brien, Houdini will feature a new score by Stephen Schwartz and is aiming to bow during the 2013-14 season.
“The two ballads Stephen has written, one that closes Act I and one that closes the show, are among the greatest things he’s ever written," O’Brien recently told Broadway.com. "Hugh just kills with them. It’s vintage Schwartz, it’s gorgeous,” O'Brien said of the Wicked composer's newest score, noting it echos music from the 1920s, when the story is set.
Oscar-winning Social Network scribe Aaron Sorkin is penning the musical's book and taking a different narrative route than that of a traditional biography. Instead, the musical tells the story of an epic battle between Houdini and a trio of women, known as 'Spiritualists', who convinced millions of people they could communicate with the dead.
Jackman and the show's creative team are “working our butts off,” according to O'Brien. A read-through of the show's first act is scheduled for January. Jackman will then take a break to film the police drama Prisoners with Jake Gyllenhaal, then reconvene on Houdini in March and April.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It was reported later in the Schwartz newsletter that he continued to work on the score even during the difficult days of Hurricane Sandy. Interesting to note that he composes the songs not according to sequence, based on the report on how good the ballads that close the first act and that close the show are! LOL - of course I have no idea when the muse that inspires the talented comes. ALWebber is known for writing melodies when it inspires him and many times he does not even know in which musical it is going to land. Examples: Music of the Night from Phantom was once a song (titled Married Man) meant to be sung by then-wife Sarah Brightman for an aborning musical called Aspects of Love, while a song about trains from Starlight Express became Love Changes Everything for Aspects of Love.
I am guessing -- I wonder if Sorkin has written a fairly good amount of the book/libretto already -- but he is too busy to work on the project now when it is at the critical aspect ( getting ready for workshops/initial stagings) -- in the meantime, Schwartz is busy shaping up the musical score!
I hope someone ( like Broadway.com) will interview Jack O'Brien again -- presumably, he is still attached to the project and probably has the most excellent feel of how much work has been done for the show for it to open in the 2013-2014 season ( I am thinking it cannot be earlier than spring 2014).
When did we first hear about this project, anyone remember? It must have been after 2006 because I remember that he said he was at that time looking at Leap of Faith ( this was when he was in Sydney).
More research -- it seems the process started sometime in 2008. Here's a writeup in 2010 on original composer Danny Elfman who was replaced by Stephen Schwartz --
“I’ve written music on and off for two years already,” Elfman tells EW. “It’s such a different process [from my film scoring work]. For me, it’s taking forever. But other people say, ‘Oh, no, you’ve only been on that a couple of years, that’s nothing!’”
Elfman spent the last week in New York meeting with Sorkin, O’Brien, Slater, and a producer to discuss the show. “Right now Aaron Sorkin is writing,” says the composer. “He’s writing away, and we all have high hopes that Aaron’s going to come through and do some good stuff.”
Next up is a first reading of the script, scheduled for January. After that, Elfman estimates that the show could open in early 2012 — though we wouldn’t be surprised to see it on Broadway even sooner if the reading goes well. “I’m just trying to go with it and learn,” says Elfman. “Hopefully [the show] will happen, but I know that there are so many things that need to still happen, and reasons why it may or may not. I just try to take an attitude of, ‘If it happens, great, and if it doesn’t, I’ll have learned what it’s like working on a Broadway musical.’”
It does seem like quite a difficult process -- and one is not even sure if the new work is going to be a hit, artistically- or financially-speaking!
Jo
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Houdini Star Hugh Jackman is Working His 'Butt Off' Tackling Stephen Schwartz's ‘Greatest' Score
News By Jesse North October 12, 2012 - 1:01PM
'[The music] is vintage Schwartz, it’s gorgeous.'
After Hugh Jackman creates movie magic as Jean Valjean in Les Miserables, he'll perform spectacular illusions as Harry Houdini in a new Broadway musical about the famed magician. Directed by Tony winner Jack O’Brien, Houdini will feature a new score by Stephen Schwartz and is aiming to bow during the 2013-14 season.
“The two ballads Stephen has written, one that closes Act I and one that closes the show, are among the greatest things he’s ever written," O’Brien recently told Broadway.com. "Hugh just kills with them. It’s vintage Schwartz, it’s gorgeous,” O'Brien said of the Wicked composer's newest score, noting it echos music from the 1920s, when the story is set.
Oscar-winning Social Network scribe Aaron Sorkin is penning the musical's book and taking a different narrative route than that of a traditional biography. Instead, the musical tells the story of an epic battle between Houdini and a trio of women, known as 'Spiritualists', who convinced millions of people they could communicate with the dead.
Jackman and the show's creative team are “working our butts off,” according to O'Brien. A read-through of the show's first act is scheduled for January. Jackman will then take a break to film the police drama Prisoners with Jake Gyllenhaal, then reconvene on Houdini in March and April.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It was reported later in the Schwartz newsletter that he continued to work on the score even during the difficult days of Hurricane Sandy. Interesting to note that he composes the songs not according to sequence, based on the report on how good the ballads that close the first act and that close the show are! LOL - of course I have no idea when the muse that inspires the talented comes. ALWebber is known for writing melodies when it inspires him and many times he does not even know in which musical it is going to land. Examples: Music of the Night from Phantom was once a song (titled Married Man) meant to be sung by then-wife Sarah Brightman for an aborning musical called Aspects of Love, while a song about trains from Starlight Express became Love Changes Everything for Aspects of Love.
I am guessing -- I wonder if Sorkin has written a fairly good amount of the book/libretto already -- but he is too busy to work on the project now when it is at the critical aspect ( getting ready for workshops/initial stagings) -- in the meantime, Schwartz is busy shaping up the musical score!
I hope someone ( like Broadway.com) will interview Jack O'Brien again -- presumably, he is still attached to the project and probably has the most excellent feel of how much work has been done for the show for it to open in the 2013-2014 season ( I am thinking it cannot be earlier than spring 2014).
When did we first hear about this project, anyone remember? It must have been after 2006 because I remember that he said he was at that time looking at Leap of Faith ( this was when he was in Sydney).
More research -- it seems the process started sometime in 2008. Here's a writeup in 2010 on original composer Danny Elfman who was replaced by Stephen Schwartz --
“I’ve written music on and off for two years already,” Elfman tells EW. “It’s such a different process [from my film scoring work]. For me, it’s taking forever. But other people say, ‘Oh, no, you’ve only been on that a couple of years, that’s nothing!’”
Elfman spent the last week in New York meeting with Sorkin, O’Brien, Slater, and a producer to discuss the show. “Right now Aaron Sorkin is writing,” says the composer. “He’s writing away, and we all have high hopes that Aaron’s going to come through and do some good stuff.”
Next up is a first reading of the script, scheduled for January. After that, Elfman estimates that the show could open in early 2012 — though we wouldn’t be surprised to see it on Broadway even sooner if the reading goes well. “I’m just trying to go with it and learn,” says Elfman. “Hopefully [the show] will happen, but I know that there are so many things that need to still happen, and reasons why it may or may not. I just try to take an attitude of, ‘If it happens, great, and if it doesn’t, I’ll have learned what it’s like working on a Broadway musical.’”
It does seem like quite a difficult process -- and one is not even sure if the new work is going to be a hit, artistically- or financially-speaking!
Jo
This was the entirety of the Houdini update: