Ray Charles musical set for Broadway
Written by on March 12th, 2010 in Latest News.
Ray Charles sings America the Gorgeous in the rain at Boston’s Fenway Park in 2003. (Winslow Townson/Associated Press)
A musical celebrating American musician Ray Charles will open on Broadway in November.
Unchain my Heart will open in a soon-to-be-named theatre on Nov. 7, with preview performances beginning Oct. 8, according to an announcement Thursday by its producers.
The production will feature Charles’s music, which spanned rhythm and blues, soul and gospel among other genres.
“I want people to sit in the theatre and get the full gamut of experiences — I want them to laugh, I want them to weep, I want them to feel Ray’s pain, I want them to feel Ray’s elation,” said producer Stuart Benjamin, who worked with the late music legend for 15 years and produced the 2004 film, Ray.
The show will be directed by Sheldon Epps, artistic director of the Pasadena Playhouse. Its book is by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Suzan-Lori Parks.
Jamie Foxx won an Academy Award for his portrayal of Charles in Ray, but the actor won’t be stepping on stage for an encore. According to Benjamin, the lead role has been cast with a Tony Award-nominated stage actor who, along with the rest of the cast, will be named soon. Benjamin said the physical demands of the role require a veteran stage actor.
Unlike the film, which featured recordings of Charles’s voice, the musical will have live singing throughout.
The scope of the stage tale will also be different from the film version. While Ray finished in 1965, with the singer kicking his heroin addiction, the musical will start with his childhood in rural Florida and go through to the end of his life in 2004.
A developmental production of the musical under the title, Ray Charles Live!, ran at the Pasadena Playhouse in 2007. It imagines Charles at his last live recording session, where he relates tales from his life and sings his best-known hits.
With files from The Associated Press
