The delay is to give the female lead Jenn Colella more time to recover from bronchitis which kept her out of recent rehearsals. The opening is still scheduled for March 27 at the Broadhurst Theatre.
Lonny Price (A Class Act) directs Urban Cowboy with choreography by Melinda Roy. Aaron Latham, who co-wrote the original screenplay for the movie that starred John Travolta and Debra Winger, shares credit for the book of Urban Cowboy with the late Phillip Oesterman. Chase Mishkin and Leonard Soloway produce.
The new musical features an eclectic collection of old and new music. Popular country music by Shania Twain, Clint Black and Brooks & Dunn will be interpolated among songs from the movie — including the signature "Lookin' For Love" — as well as original works by Jeff Blumenkrantz, Bob Stillman and the production's musical director-conductor Jason Robert Brown (The Last Five Years.)
The show stars newcomer Matt Cavenaugh as Bud, who gets seduced by the barflies in and around a honky-tonk Texas bar named Gilley's, where a mechanical bull is the center of attention. Jenn Colella is Sissy, his love interest. The cast also features Leo Burmester, Marcus Chait, Sally Mayes, Rozz Morehead and Jodi Stevens along with Michael Balderrama, Mark Bove, Gerrard Carter, Nicole Foret, Justin Greer, Sarah Jayne Jensen, Michelle Kittrell, Brian Letendre, Barrett Martin, Kimberly Dawn Neumann, Tera-Lee Pollin, Chad L. Schiro, Kelleia Sheerin and Paula Wise.
The Florida tryout of the Broadway-bound Urban Cowboy ended its nearly sold out run at Coconut Grove Playhouse Dec. 1. Seats for the show's final week were a top commodity at the Miami venue, a Coconut Grove spokesperson said. Good reviews followed the Nov. 16 opening. The show has been in development for several years and has gone through many rewrites and reconsiderations in that time. In the last year, Jason Robert Brown was brought aboard and was signed as musical director and arranger. Earlier this year, when co-librettist and director Phillip Oesterman died unexpectedly, Price was brought in to direct.
Price told Playbill On-Line at a recent press event, "What this show really is about is: Amidst all of that cold petro-chemical world the way you survive is to find the person you love. A very simple message, but I think a profound one."
The complete songlist is as follows: (order and songs subject to change)