Swenson, Cullum, Hensley, DeHaas, Barzee Test Hornsby's Sick Bastard in NYC Reading

By Kenneth Jones
June 19, 2009

Sick Bastard, a new musical with music and lyrics by three-time Grammy Award winner Bruce Hornsby, gets a private industry reading directed by Tony Award winner Kathleen Marshall June 19.

The musical is based on an original story by Hornsby about the troubles created when a stranger arrives in a small Virginia town. The score is wholly original; it's not a jukebox musical, Playbill has learned.

The libretto is by Clay McLeod Chapman (who co-wrote the indie musical Hostage Song). Additional lyrics are by Chip DeMatteo.

Kim Grigsby (Grease, Spring Awakening) is the musical director. The producer is Mike Rafael and David Riemer of Spiral Staircase Productions. Director-choreographer Kathleen Marshall is known for staging Broadway's Wonderful Town and The Pajama Game.

The reading cast of Sick Bastard will include Will Swenson, Sarah Uriarte Berry, Tony Award winner John Cullum, Tony winner Shuler Hensley, John Conlee, Anastasia Barzee, Tracee Beazer, Louis Hobson, Darius DeHaas, Matthew Saldivar, Brynn Williams, Riley Costello and Bubba Weiler.

Hornsby, a Williamsburg, VA, native, had a hit with "The Way It Is," performed by Bruce Hornsby and the Range. The singer-musician-writer draws on rock, bluegrass, jazz and more for his sound.

No production timetable has been announced for this project.