The year is 1973 and it's all happening. Led Zeppelin is king, Richard Nixon is President, and idealistic 15-year-old William Miller is an aspiring music journalist. When Rolling Stone magazine hires him to go on the road with an up-and-coming band, William is thrust into the rock-and-roll circus, where his love of music, his longing for friendship, and his integrity as a writer collide. Almost Famous is about a young man finding his place in the world and the indelible characters he meets along the way. It's a celebration of community, family, fandom and the power of music.
Fully competent and coherent, 'Almost Famous' also has many skilled and engaging performers and a nicely droll visual pallet from the designers Derek McLane, David Zinn and Natasha Katz. But when Penny Lane overdoses, the pain of that moment is brushed over with a nervous joke. That's also true of William's sexual awakening and, ultimately, even the rebellion of sister Anita Miller (Emily Schultheis). Irony and pain only rarely enter the building.
Rarely has rock 'n' roll looked and sounded as boring and tedious as it does in the strange Broadway mess that is Almost Famous (Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre, booking to April 9, 2023). This is odd, as the musical is based on the popular Oscar-winning film, written and directed by Cameron Crowe, who also wrote the book and lyrics for the stage show (music and other lyrics by Tom Kitt). Semi-autobiographical, it features teenage journalist William Miller (Casey Likes) as he wheedles his way, by faking being much older on the phone, into following a dysfunctional rock band called Stillwater to make his writing debut in Rolling Stone in 1973. The result, on stage, is wince-inducing-a leaping, sing-songy, wishy-washy, toothless, sanitized, and humorless version of what that era of rock 'n' roll was.
2019 | San Diego, CA (Regional) |
The Old Globe Premiere Production San Diego, CA (Regional) |
2022 | Broadway |
Original Broadway Production Broadway |
Year | Ceremony | Category | Nominee |
---|---|---|---|
2023 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Music | Tom Kitt |
2023 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Sound Design of a Musical | Peter Hylenski |
2023 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Wig and Hair | Campbell Young Associates |
2023 | Theatre World Awards | Theatre World Awards | Casey Likes |
2023 | Tony Awards | Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics) Written for the Theatre | Tom Kitt |
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