Long and Winding Road :
For many Broadway shows, the road they travel to Broadway could be another show itself:
- The Drowsy Chaperone started out as a bachelor party skit, before beginning an eight-year trek from Canada to Los Angeles to New York. The bachelor in question was its eventual star, Tony-winner Bob Martin.
- The book OK! The Story of Oklahoma! tells us producers of that watershed musical held 16 backers' auditions in various Park Avenue apartments without raising a penny. They even had Richard Rodgers playing piano and Alfred Drake and Joan Roberts – the original Curley and Laurey – singing.
The Tale of “A Tale of Two Cities” :
Now into this company steps A Tale of Two Cities, when a September 18 opening marks the end of a nine-year journey that actually began far earlier, in high school, for 42-year-old composer and author Jill Santoriello.
Sontoriello is a self-taught musician, who began as a teenager writing songs inspired by the classic Dickens novel. Along the way, she was encouraged to begin linking the songs with a dramatic treatment of the book. So the self-taught composer became a self-taught musical book writer, too.
Didn't Quit Her Day Job :
While keeping her day job – 10 years with the Showtime television network – Santoriello garnered fellowships, took part in BMI and ASCAP musical theater workshops, and continued working on her show.
Building the Buzz :
Meanwhile, executive producers Barbara Russell and Ron Sharpe, a husband-and-wife team and both former musical theater actors, became aware of Santoriello's music and signed on with the show. A concept CD followed in 2004, then U.S. and European airplay, and the show began to gather fans and buzz.
In development since 2001, the show finally premiered last October at Sarasota, Florida's, Asolo Repertory Theatre, and it played to sold-out houses. With that encouragement, and after tweaking the show based on audience surveys, producers confirmed a Broadway opening at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre.
Broadway Beginners and Old Hands :
The show comes in with a mix of Broadway beginners and the most-experienced hands imaginable. The author, producers and director/choreographer are all on Broadway for the first time; Warren Carlyle, with off-Broadway and Encores! experience, is the director and choreographer.
On the other end, Tony-, Oscar-, and Emmy-winner Tony Walton designed the sets. According to Sarasota's Herald-Tribune, Walton, who has been focusing on directing of late, said the music drew him back to set design for the show. Producers even chartered a bus to take reporters to New Jersey, where the Broadway sets were built, to see his work.
Showtime :
The show, with a budget reported as between $12 and $15 million, started previews August 19, in advance of the September 18 opening. That's when, despite the long road it has traveled, the journey for A Tale of Two Cities really begins.