New York, NY (Top40 Charts/ CineMedia Promotions) Meet John Doe, the
Jonathan Larson Award-winning musical by Andrew Gerle and Eddie Sugarman, will be released on the Broadway Records label on November 26th, 2013. The album can be pre-ordered on Amazon.com at https://amzn.com/B00FAD1GPA and features
Heidi Blickenstaff ([title of show], Addams Family), who received a 2007 Helen Hayes Award for the show's world premiere production at the Ford's Theatre in DC. Joining her from the Ford's production are
James Moye (Million Dollar Quartet, Full Monty) as John Doe and two-time Tony Award nominee Joel Blum (Show Boat, Steel Pier), as well as Tony Award nominee Robert Cuccioli (Jekyll & Hyde, Spiderman), John Jellison (Memphis), and Andrew Keenan-Bolger (Newsies).
Meet John Doe is based on the classic Frank Capra film from 1941, starring
Barbara Stanwyck as ambitious reporter Ann Mitchell, and Gary
Cooper as out-of-work baseball pitcher John Willoughby. When Mitchell is fired in the depths of the Depression, she pens a prank letter to her own column from a "John Doe," who is planning to jump off the Brooklyn Bridge on New Year's Eve to "protest the state of society." When the letter is unexpectedly printed, "John" becomes a citywide sensation, and Ann muscles her way back into her job, ghostwriting columns for him. To play John, she hires Willoughby, who turns out to be much more than a handsome face. After John Doe creates a national movement of community organizations, newspaper owner D.B. Norton tries to cash in on John Doe's popularity, and Ann and the real John must decide how far they'll go to protect what they've created.
"We fell in love with the witty dialogue and complicated love story of the film," said Sugarman, "and knew that Andrew could write a terrific jazz-inspired score to go along with that." "What we didn't realize was how relevant the political message would become as we worked on the show," added Gerle. "Capra's message of everyday folks triumphing over corporations and fat cats feels more important today than ever, and audiences really responded to that."
"Meet John Doe is a wonderful new musical that has had several productions around the country. We are honored to have the opportunity to release its Original Studio Cast Recording," said Van Dean, co-founder of Broadway Records.
R&H Theatricals, a division of Rodgers & Hammerstein, provided the majority of the funds for the album, and the authors have launched a crowd-sourcing campaign to raise the remainder at RocketHub.com, which can be viewed here (link: https://www.rockethub.com/projects/25181-support-meet-john-doe-album-release-on-broadway-records).
The musical began life with a concert production at the New York
Music Theatre Festival (NYMF) and a presentation at the
National Alliance for Musical Theatre (NAMT), followed by workshops at Carousel Dinner Theatre in Ohio, the Hartt School of
Music in Hartford, CT, and Goodspeed Musical's Norma Terris Theater in 2006. The world premiere production at the Ford's Theater won the Ford's its first two Helen Hayes Awards, one for
Heidi Blickenstaff and one for director Eric Schaeffer. The show has since been produced in
Chicago at Porchlight
Music Theater, and is available for licensing through R&H Theatricals.
Gerle and Sugarman won the
Jonathan Larson Award in 2006. Sugarman is currently Managing
Director of 16th Street Theater outside Chicago, winner of a 2013
National Theatre Grant from the American Theatre Wing. Gerle is the also the recipient of four Richard Rodgers Awards for his shows Gloryana and The Tutor (book and lyrics by Maryrose Wood), and the 2012 Kleban Award for the libretto for Gloryana. He is also the author of the play Renovations, and the book The Enraged Accompanist's Guide to the Perfect Audition (Applause Books).
