New Musical Using Songs of Neil Sedaka Tests Its Voice in NYC Reading April 22
By Kenneth Jones
21 Apr 2005
Breaking Up Is Hard to Do, a new musical borrowing the songs of Neil Sedaka, gets an industry reading April 22 in Manhattan by Harbor Entertainment.
Gordon Greenberg directs the original piece, created by Ben Winters and Erik Jackson, set at a Catskill mountain resort in upstate New York.
Sedaka, the singer-songwriter known for "Oh! Carol," "Little Devil," "Stairway to Heaven," "Love Will Keep Us Together," "Where the Boys Are," "Next Door to An Angel," "Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen," "Laughter in the Rain," "Calendar Girl" and many more over a 50-year career, is not a character in the show.
The story takes place at a summer resort in the 1950s and brings together a range of characters for romantic complications.
This April reading presentation prefigures a production to play Capital Repertory Theatre in Albany this summer.
The show was once tentatively titled Stupid Cupid. According to Capital Rep's website, the musical plays there July 15-Aug. 14. The company bills it as a pre-Broadway engagement.
"Although Neil has been approached many times over the years to do a musical, this project finally felt right," according to his official website. "He's very excited and has been working hard with the writers toward its completion."
Here's how Capital Rep bills the show: "A brand-new, never before seen musical featuring the songs of the incomparable Neil Sedaka. 'Dirty Dancing' meets Forever Plaid, just south of the Capital Region, as a group of friends reunite at the Catskill resort hotel where they first met. Relive the trials, tribulations and rewards of teenage life, the emotional upheavals caused by infatuations, break-ups and the incessant speculation about a loved one, as they reminisce about that special summer."
Musical direction for the reading is by Tom Kitt, known for the Tom Kitt Band and for work on his own musicals. The reading company includes Jill Abramovitz, Bruce Adler, Megan Hilty, Jan Neuberger, Graham Rowat, Rob Sapp, Barry Carl, Dan Domenech, Randy Redd and Tommar Wilson.
Visit www.neilsedaka.com and www.capitalrep.org.
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