Back in December 1998, before he became Broadway's Tony Manero, James Carpinello participated in a reading of a new musical based on the hit film "Urban Cowboy." Little has been heard publicly about the project since, but librettist Aaron Latham (who wrote the screenplay) and co author/director Phillip Oesterman just got back from Tennessee visiting the Nashville Songwriters Association, hoping to find original songs to plug into the show.
"We met with, literally, the top country writers in Nashville," Oesterman told Playbill On-Line (Aug. 21). "We came away with more demos and CDs than we could bring; we had to mail them home. And some of the people we met are definitely writing songs for the show." That said, at this point the only tunes Oesterman would confirm would be in Urban Cowboy are the movie's "Could I Have This Dance for the Rest of My Life?" and Johnny Lee's "Looking for Love."
Urban Cowboy the show had a reading at Lincoln Center in early 2000, with Footloose's Jeremy Kushnier playing Bud and Natasha Diaz playing Sissy. That summer, another workshop was held in Gloucester, MA, with David Elder (42nd Street's Billy Lawler) as Bud and Angela Pupelo as Sissy. The next workshop will be at NYC's Westbeth Theatre Center, Oct. 22-Nov. 11, with casting soon to be underway.
Douglas W. Schmidt (42nd Street) is doing the set for Urban Cowboy, though other designers have yet to be announced. Leonard Soloway and Chase Mishkin are producing.
The target for Urban Cowboy is Broadway this-coming March, though that sounds extremely quick for a show has yet to cast its leads, try out, or integrate new songs into its book. Asked about the quick turn-around, Oesterman said, "Why not? We really feel it's in pretty good shape." James Bridges' 1980 film starred John Travolta as a construction worker whose machismo doesn't quite jibe with real life. He also winds up in a love triangle (with the other points played by Debra Winger and Scott Glenn). The movie's best-known aspect is the mechanical bull customers ride at the pub Gilley's, a machine that sparked something of a craze for the nuts n' bolts bronco in bars across America.
