Isabel Keating, Beth Fowler and Hugh Jackman also star in the upcoming musical which is set to begin at the Imperial Theatre on Sept. 16 for a Oct. 16 opening.
Jackman stars as Peter Allen, the musical's focal character. Emick co-stars as Allen's partner, Greg Connell; Fowler will play his mother, Marion Woolnough; Keating takes on Allen's mentor and mother-in-law, Judy Garland; Mulheren will play his father, Dick, and manager-promoter Dee Anthony; and Federan plays the young Peter. More casting will be announced shortly.
The Boy from Oz is a musical biography of the late entertainer who was a protege of Judy Garland and who was briefly married to Liza Minnelli. The Australian production ran two years and starred Todd McKenney as Allen. It received positive reviews when it opened March 5, 1998, at Her Majesty's Theatre Sydney. Nick Enright penned the musical's original book, though since fall 2001, Martin Sherman (Bent, A Madhouse in Goa) has been the project's librettist. Philip Wm. McKinley is the director. Joey McKneely is the choreographer.
Ben Gannon and Robert Fox presented the recent workshop of The Boy from Oz which featured Jackman as Allen and Keating as Garland. The cast also included Mitchel David Federan as (Boy) Young Peter, Mark Manley as George Woolnough, Patti Allison as Marion Woolnough, Michael Mulheren as Dick Woolnough and Dee Anthony, Jeff Skowron as Chris Bell, Adam Karsten as Mark Herron, Ruthie Henshall as Liza Minnelli, Shannon Lewis as Lady and Ben Sheaffer as Greg Connell. The ensemble featured Leslie Alexander, Todd Anderson, Christopher Freeman, Colleen Hawks, Stephanie Kurtzuba, Matt Loehr, Brian J. Markum and Kellyanne Wilson.
The Broadway musical will be announce a design team shortly. Patrick Vaccariello will serve as musical supervisor. Orchestrations will be by Michael Gibson. Songwriters represented in the score of existing pop songs include Adrienne Anderson, Burt Bacharach, Jeff Barry, Michael Callen, Christopher Cross, Tom Keane, Marsha Malamet, Dean Pitchford and Carol Bayer Sager. Sources say the show ends with Allen's signature song, "I Go to Rio." The original cast recording of the Australian production included the following songs:
