By Harry Haun
08 Dec 2006

The good will was practically palpable Dec. 7 at the Imperial where High Fidelity opened to high-fives all over the place from cheerleading, ready-to-be-converted first-nighters.

Not the least of this night of firsts was the fact that Amanda Green was making her Broadway debut, supplying lyrics for Tom Kitt's music and formally turning into a second-generation theatrical wordsmith. Her father, Adolph Green, shared the longest collaboration in showbiz history (61 years) with Betty Comden, who passed away Nov. 23, 15 days short of this symbolic passing-of-the-torch event. Because of this, there was a certain bittersweet feel to the evening that was still present amid all the merriment.

In the press-receiving line in the foyer of Roseland following the show, Green smiled wanly when condolences were extended. It was clear Comden had been a formative influence in shaping her career, as indeed she'd been to all females writing lyrics today.

Inside, seated at one of the V.I.P. tables that consumed the dance floor was her mother, actress Phyllis Newman, giving off megawatts of maternal pride that was seconded by some auxiliary star-lighting from Lauren Bacall, a longtime friend of the Green family.

Green was pretty steeped in pride herself: "I was proud of the actors. I was proud of moments that connected with the audience. I'm just awed. It takes so many people to write a musical, and I'm proud we worked together and created a show we all believe in."

Yes, she has "a couple of projects in the works, but I can't talk about them right now."

This project took five years of her life to bring to fruition —ever since she saw Stephen Frears' 2000 movie version of Nick Hornby's 1995 novel about a likable slacker who runs Championship Vinyl, the last real record store on earth, with a staff of rock geeks.

In its three incarnations, the store had a different place on earth. The book set it in London, but, because John Cusack played our lovesick hero in the movie, the scenery was shifted to Chicago. Now, for the stage musical, Brooklyn is the anointed locale.

Which is perfectly fine with the author. "After I wrote the book and it started to be published in other countries," said Hornby, "no one ever said to me, 'Oh, this is what life is like in London.' They would say, 'Oh, my brother's like that' or 'My boyfriend's like that' or 'I'm like that,' so I realized, although I was writing locally, I was writing about people who live in first-rate cities. It's always going to make sense if you see it that way."

High Fidelity is his first Broadway musical, ever. "I've seen musicals in London — not many, mind you — but I've never seen one on Broadway." So, perhaps, his euphoria is understandable. "I loved it. I so loved it. I thought it was inspiring. It had a lot of warmth, soul, energy. I thought it would be okay, but I wasn't expecting it to be as good as it was."

Furthermore, he thought his characters were treated with fidelity by the music-makers. "I mean, considering it's a musical," he qualified, "it was incredibly faithful to the book."

David Lindsay-Abaire, heretofore a writer of straight (2006's Tony-nominated Rabbit Hole) and not-so-straight plays (Kimberly Akimbo), is the person to thank for that. It was with some trepidation that Lindsay-Abaire went off the high board into musical comedy.

Of course, he conceded, it was difficult to get in harness with others when you're used to pulling the plow alone. "It's very hard for someone who has never done it. But, when you collaborate, you find things you'd never have found on your own so it's also liberating."

And he's going back for seconds. "I have no choice. Shrek is up next, and I've got to stay on that train. We'll have the first draft by March and then do a workshop soon after that."

High Fidelity had its challenges, he confessed. "I think the biggest challenge was overcoming my fear of the book, which I loved so deeply. I was determined not to mess it up. In terms of craft, the biggest challenge was activating a very inactive protagonist. His problem is that he's stuck in every way, and he doesn't take action. To get him to do something was the hardest part. But it's a musical so we made it more of a love story, opened up his heart and let him sing while in pursuit of The Girl. That's how we did it."

By taking that plot tack, the musical book minimizes the record-shop milieu and its full quota of eccentrics on both sides of the counter — in particular, a star-making turn worthy of Oscar consideration by Jack Black, playing a record-clerk who goes ballistic when a customer asks about lesser talents (in his exalted view) like John Tesh or Celine Dion.

"The music-store life is what everybody remembers — the love story is secondary in the movie," allowed the adapter. "The play has as many store scenes, but I do think we have more of a love story than the movie ultimately does. We have stuff from the book, too."

According to director Walter Bobbie, the novel was mined as much as the movie. "Very, very often, we'd go back to the book," he said. "Whenever we were in trouble, we went back to the book — that's where the answers were. They kept the characters on course."

Of course, the comfy ambiance of the music-store goings-on could have produced a new Susanswerphone — as in Bells Are Ringing, the Comden & Green show that bowed at the Shubert 50 years ago Nov. 29. "We're doing very much the show we wanted to do," said Bobbie. "I didn't know what it was going to be, but I wanted to work with those three writers, and I love these producers. They showed real courage and taste when we started and just basically had Hornby's book and then Tom played about six songs for me."

Composer Kitt, Broadway-debuting at 32, had specific objectives in his score. "I think I wanted to be true to Nick Hornby's book and celebrate pop music in as many genres as I could, to really bring out that world. There's hip-hop, straight-ahead rock, R&B, soul…"

His second theatre step, he said, is for Second Stage. "I'm working on a show called Giving a Lecture that Second Stage is developing, tentatively for fall." His collaborator this time will be Brian Yorkey, who did lyrics for Making Tracks and Wedding Banquet.

Bobbie's next move will be to Guadeloupe (a vacation) — then he'll check up on his current productions of White Christmas, which he directed for the holidays around the country. Afterwards, he said, there is going to be some serious huddling about bringing in a New York production and making it an annual tradition here. "I think we're hoping for that, but we want to make sure that the show is sturdy before we brought it in."

Will Chase finally gets his first big star spot on Broadway and doesn't have to share the part at all (he was one-sixth of Lennon — and, most people think, the best-sixth). Sorting through his love life, past and present, and minding the store, clerks and customers alike, he seems to be constantly on the go. It's an illusion, he said.

"So much of the time I'm on stage, but I get to coast some — well, I won't say coast, but there are a few times in the first act where others share the burden. Everybody's got their little moment, and I get to watch them with the audience and don't have to work so hard. Continued...

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