Launched in Detroit on Jan. 27, 2004, the dance-heavy musical choreographed and directed by Twyla Tharp and featuring the songs of Billy Joel, will end its run in Birmingham, AL, having played 1, 111 performances.
The tour received the 2005 "Best New Musical" and “Best Choreography" Awards from The League of American Theatres and Producers Touring Broadway Awards.
Original Broadway star (and Tony Award nominee) Keith Roberts heads the cast of the first national tour with original touring stars and Broadway cast members Holly Cruikshank, David Gomez, Laurie Kanyok, Brendan King and piano man Darren Holden.
The bookless show uses Joel's song lyrics and Tharp's choreography to craft a story of five friends and lovers across three decades through love, war and loss. There is no dialogue and all songs are performed by the pianist-singer, who sings non-stop and heads an onstage band during the show.
Remaining dates for the tour include Detroit, MI (through Nov. 19); Ottawa, Ontario (Nov. 21-26); Providence, RI (Nov. 28-Dec. 3); Washington, D.C. (Dec. 5-23); Raleigh, NC (Jan. 2-7, 2007); Palm Beach, FL (Jan. 9-14, 2007) and Birmingham, AL (Jan. 16-21, 2007). Following a tryout at Chicago's Shubert Theatre, Movin' Out officially opened on The Great White Way Oct. 24, 2002, closing Dec. 11, 2005. The production took home Tony Awards for Best Choreography (Tharp) and Orchestrations (Joel and Stuart Malina).
The producers of Movin' Out are James L. Nederlander, Hal Luftig, Scott E. Nederlander, Terry Allen Kramer, Live Nation and Emanuel Azenberg.
Musical supervision is by Stuart Malina. The design team features Santo Loquasto (scenic), Suzy Benzinger (costumes), Donald Holder (lighting) with Brian Ruggles and Peter Fitzgerald (sound).
A broadcast of the musical was just announced as part of WNET/Thirteen's "Great Performances" 2006-2007 season to play on PBS in winter/spring 2007.
For more information, visit movingout.uvision.net.