We found some exiting news on Elvis Music getting a new life on a Broadway Stage. Here You can find the shortened version of the actual article by Robert Hoffler.
Elvis Presley is really dead, but he may be coming to a Broadway theater in 2001. Joe DiPietro is writing the book for a musical that will feature a number of songs made famous by the king of rock ’n’ roll.
The idea for the Presley musical originated with composer Jimmy Roberts and DiPietro’s music publisher, Maxyne Berman Lang, president of Williamson Music.
A division of the Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization, Williamson also reps the catalogs of Elvis Presley Music (BMI) and Gladys Music (ASCAP), named after the singer’s mother, which over the years have amassed most of the titles recorded by the legendary singer.
“Having lived with those songs for so many years, it seemed to me that they had a story, a non-Elvis Presley story to tell,” said Lang. Prior to her tenure at Williamson, she repped the Presley song book as VP at Chappell Music and later Warner Chappell Music.
Elvis Presley Music is co-owned by the Elvis Presley estate and the Julian and Jean Aberbach family, a long-revered music-publishing concern. Both entities recently approved DiPietro’s concept for the musical.
“It’s not going to be about Elvis,” the playwright said of the musical. For a prototype, he instead is looking to a current West End sensation. “The show will be closer in concept to ‘Mama Mia!,’ which uses the music of ABBA, but doesn’t mention ABBA at all. I want the songs to come from many different voices and situations that you don’t expect.”
Neither DiPietro nor Lang would reveal which Presley songs would be used.
Source: Elvis World / Variety.