NEW YORK — Yo, Broadway.
Eight years after producers decided to take a chance on an “it’s so crazy, it just might work” project, opening night has arrived.
Ladies and gentlemen, get ready to rumble: “Rocky” has entered the Broadway ring.
The show stars Andy Karl and Margo Seibert as the cutest couple of losers this side of a Philadelphia skating rink. Sylvester Stallone and Broadway veteran Thomas Meehan (“Annie,” “The Producers”) wrote the book. “Rocky” is directed by Alex Timbers, known for inventive work in “Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson,” “Peter and the Starcatcher” and “Here Lies Love.”
With music and lyrics from Pittsburgh native Stephen Flaherty and longtime writing partner Lynn Ahrens, “Rocky” combines a strong creative pedigree with unconventional source material. If various reports are to be believed, it also comes with a budget approaching $15 million.
“It comes from this artist wanting to tell the story,” said Louis Spisto, one of the show’s many producers. “I believe that if Mama Rose in ‘Gypsy’ sings and Billy in ‘Billy Elliott’ can sing and Dolly in ‘Hello, Dolly’ can sing, it fits.
“We don’t think of this hyper-masculine character as being a character that needs to sing … but in ‘Musical Theater 101,’ they teach you about the ‘I want’ song: What is your dream? When conditions are such that you can’t speak it anymore, you sing it.”
“This was not some film company looking to exploit its product or its catalog,” said Spisto, the former executive director and CEO of San Diego’s Globe Theater and former marketing director for the Pittsburgh Symphony. “This is something that emanated from the artist.”
“I think the difficult part about this piece, which has been brilliantly handled by Tom and Stephen and Lynn, is that they are authentic. They are realistic.”
Adding to the craziness: “Rocky” was first developed by international theater giant Stage Entertainment not for the Great White Way but for the burgeoning musical theater scene in Hamburg, Germany.
The songs were translated into German, with an English word or phrase peppering an occasional lyric. Rocky is played by American actor Drew Sarich, with Dutch actress Wietske van Tongeren as Adrian.
Based in The Netherlands, Stage Entertainment’s worldwide umbrella includes productions such as “Rocky,” “Big Fish” and “War Horse.” In the U.S., it owns the New World Stages theater in New York City.
“The idea was to put it together with the team and put it on and if it was successful, move (to Broadway),” Spisto said.
Scenic design is by Christopher Barreca, with Steven Hoggett (fights) and Kelly Devine (dancing) handling the choreography.
Drastic differences between the Hamburg and Broadway productions are few. The boxing ring in the final act is a bit different due to the new stage’s size and shape. (“Rocky” scored its first TKO when it displaced long-running former tenant “Mamma Mia” at the Winter Garden.)
Several numbers were changed or dropped when it began previews last month in the U.S.
German audiences have embraced what is, at its core, a love story. “What we did in Germany was a hit,” Flaherty said. “I think it was perfect for the German audience, but we’ve been modifying and shaping it for an American audience.”
Unlike Broadway crowds that sit quietly, “the Germans, they like to clap along, and then they won’t go home at the end. So we kept adding additional music for the curtain call.”
Successful sports-themed musicals are a rarity, and the two most frequently cited are ancient: 1927’s “Good News” and 1957’s “Damn Yankees.” The team in “Rocky’s” corner is hoping not only that audiences will identify with the underdog story, it might also bring in that most elusive of patrons: the male Broadway visitor.
“Two-thirds of the tickets are bought by women … through theater and the other performing arts,” Spisto said. “This is a show that men are going to want to go to and that women will enjoy, too.”
“It’s iconic. It’s an American story, as American as Jimmy Stewart and ‘It’s a Wonderful Life.'”
Silver screen and stage show, set side by side
By Joseph V. Amodio, Newsday
NEW YORK — In the 1976 Oscar-winning film “Rocky,” written by and starring Sylvester Stallone, a down-and-out boxer gets a shot at the heavyweight title, but his shy girlfriend, Adrian, doesn’t get it. “Why do you wanna fight?” she asks.
” ‘Cuz I can’t sing or dance,” he replies.
That was then. In the new Broadway musical version — yes, and it was Stallone’s idea — Rocky Balboa, played by Andy Karl, sings plenty.
Purists, fear not — he doesn’t really dance. And those iconic film moments are all there — pounding sides of beef, running up steps and boxing (the onstage bouts are choreographed but look remarkably real).
Here’s a blow-by-blow comparison of the two “Rockys.”
STAR
MOVIE: Sylvester Stallone (later famed for “Rambo” and “Expendables” films).
MUSICAL: Andy Karl (“Jersey Boys,” “Legally Blonde”)
STAR’S AGE
MOVIE: 29 (during filming, now 67)
MUSICAL: 39
STAR’S HEIGHT
MOVIE: 5-foot-10
MUSICAL: 6-foot-2
MUSIC
MOVIE: Bill Conti’s “Gonna Fly Now”
MUSICAL: Songs by “Ragtime’s” Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty, plus Conti’s theme and “Eye of the Tiger” (from “Rocky III”).
YO, ADRIAN
MOVIE: Talia Shire (Lake Success native; director Francis Ford Coppola’s sister)
MUSICAL: Margo Seibert (in her Broadway debut)
APOLLO CREED
MOVIE: Former pro football player Carl Weathers
MUSICAL: Terence Archie
ONLY IN THIS VERSION
MOVIE: Cameo from boxing champ Joe Frazier (who later claimed the meat-punching and step-running scenes were inspired by his own Philly workouts).
MUSICAL: Actual crowds. The low-budget film uses stock footage and close-ups of a few fans to simulate a boxing arena; in the musical, those seated up front are escorted to bleachers onstage, and a boxing ring slides into the center of the theater. (The LED scoreboard computer graphics aren’t period, but the cheering fans are legit.)
NUMBER OF RAW EGGS CONSUMED IN WORKOUT SCENE
MOVIE: 5
MUSICAL: 3 — and they’re faux. (Hey, no producer can risk Rocky suffering salmonella poisoning.)
INJURIES
MOVIE: Stallone sailed through the original but was hospitalized after a slug from “Rocky IV’s” Dolph Lundgren.
MUSICAL: Black eye during rehearsal. “It’s my fault,” says Karl, laughing. “You take a role where gloves are coming at you — you’re gonna get hurt.”
