''Rocky the Musical'' (originally ''Rocky: Das Musical'')
is a 2012
musical with music by
Stephen Flaherty, lyrics by
Lynn Ahrens
Lynn Ahrens (born October 1, 1948) is an American writer and lyricist for the musical theatre, television and film. She has collaborated with Stephen Flaherty for many years. She won the Tony Award, Drama Desk Award, and Outer Critics Circle ...
, and a book by
Thomas Meehan and
Sylvester Stallone, based on the
1976 film of the same name written by Stallone. The show held its world premiere in
Hamburg
(male), (female) en, Hamburger(s),
Hamburgian(s)
, timezone1 = Central (CET)
, utc_offset1 = +1
, timezone1_DST = Central (CEST)
, utc_offset1_DST = +2
, postal ...
in 2012 and opened on
Broadway
Broadway may refer to:
Theatre
* Broadway Theatre (disambiguation)
* Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S.
** Broadway (Manhattan), the street
**Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...
in 2014 at the
Winter Garden Theatre
The Winter Garden Theatre is a Broadway theatre at 1634 Broadway in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. It opened in 1911 under designs by architect William Albert Swasey. The Winter Garden's current design dates to 1922, when ...
.
Background
The musical is based on the 1976 film ''
Rocky
''Rocky'' is a 1976 American sports drama film directed by John G. Avildsen and written by and starring Sylvester Stallone. It is the first installment in the ''Rocky'' franchise and stars Talia Shire, Burt Young, Carl Weathers, and Burge ...
'', with a screenplay by
Sylvester Stallone. The film itself was made on a budget of $1,075,000, shot in 28 days and was a
sleeper hit
In the entertainment industry, a sleeper hit is a film, television series, music release, video game, or some other entertainment product that was initially unsuccessful on release but became a success later on. A sleeper hit may have little prom ...
, earning $225 million in global box office receipts becoming the
highest-grossing film of 1976 and went on to win three
Oscars
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
, including
Best Picture
This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards.
Best Actor/Best Actress
*See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...
. Having been in the works for eight years, a workshop was held in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
in April 2011, with
Andy Karl
Andy Karl (born August 28, 1974 as Andrew Karl Cesewski) is an American actor and singer, best known for performing in musical theatre. He appeared on Broadway in the original productions of the musical version of ''Groundhog Day'' (for which he ...
playing Rocky and
Lisa Brescia
Lisa Brescia (born May 12, 1970, in Sioux Falls, South Dakota) is an American musical theatre actress who has performed as lead and understudy in several Broadway shows. Raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, she went on to pursue acting and graduated fr ...
playing Adrian. Following the reading it was officially confirmed in November by producer Sylvester Stallone alongside boxers and co-producers
Vitali Vitali, Vitalii, Vitaly, Vitaliy and may refer to:
People Given name
* Vitaly Borker (born 1975 or 1976), Ukrainian American Internet fraudster and cyberbully
* Vitaly Churkin (1952–2017), Russian politician
* Vitaly Ginzburg (1916–2009), Russ ...
and
Wladimir Klitschko
Wladimir Klitschko; an equivalent English spelling is Vladimir Klichko . His full name in uk, label=Ukrainian is, Володимир Володимирович Кличко, Volodymyr Volodymyrovych Klychko, . ( uk, Володимир ВолР...
, that the show would receive its world premiere in
Hamburg
(male), (female) en, Hamburger(s),
Hamburgian(s)
, timezone1 = Central (CET)
, utc_offset1 = +1
, timezone1_DST = Central (CEST)
, utc_offset1_DST = +2
, postal ...
in November 2012.
The musical, which premiere production cost around $20 million to produce, has a book by
Thomas Meehan and Sylvester Stallone,
adapted from Stallone's screenplay, and is directed by
Alex Timbers
Alex Timbers (born August 7, 1978) is an American writer and director and the recipient of Tony, Golden Globe, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, and London Evening Standard Awards, as well as two OBIE and Lucile Lortel Awards. He is the recipie ...
, with choreography by Kelly Devine, boxing choreography by
Steven Hoggett, set design by Christopher Barreca,
costume design by David Zinn,
lighting design by
Christopher Akerlind
Christopher Akerlind (born May 1, 1962, in Hartford, Connecticut)
is an American lighting designer for theatre, opera, and dance. He won the Tony Award for Best Lighting Design for ''Indecent''. He also won the Tony Award for Best Lighting Desig ...
,
sound design by
Peter Hylenski
Peter Hylenski (born 1975 or 1976) is an American stage sound designer. He has been nominated for the Tony Award for Best Sound Design eight times, holding the record for most nominations in the category, and has won once, at the 74th Tony Awar ...
,
video design by
Pablo N. Molina and special effects by Jeremy Chernick.
A mostly original score has been penned, by
Lynn Ahrens
Lynn Ahrens (born October 1, 1948) is an American writer and lyricist for the musical theatre, television and film. She has collaborated with Stephen Flaherty for many years. She won the Tony Award, Drama Desk Award, and Outer Critics Circle ...
with music by
Stephen Flaherty.
The show's set, which for Broadway cost $4.3 million,
is set around a mostly bare stage which represents the Gym that Rocky trains in.
The production uses sliding box-like sets to represent the homes of the characters
and the sliding element goes on to include a full sized regulation
boxing ring
A boxing ring, often referred to simply as a ring or the squared circle, is the space in which a boxing match occurs. A modern ring consists of a square raised platform with a post at each corner. Four ropes are attached to the posts and pulled p ...
.
Audience members seated within the front
stalls Golden Circle seating section, are escorted onto the stage for the final 20 minutes to sit on
bleacher
Bleachers (North American English), or stands, are raised, tiered rows of benches found at sports fields and other spectator events. Stairways provide access to the horizontal rows of seats, often with every other step gaining access to a ro ...
style seats,
in doing so this allows the boxing ring to enter the auditorium
and sit in rows A-F,
bringing the audience close to the final fight scene.
Production history
Hamburg (2012)
''Rocky the Musical'' received its world premiere on 18 November 2012, at the
Operettenhaus,
Hamburg
(male), (female) en, Hamburger(s),
Hamburgian(s)
, timezone1 = Central (CET)
, utc_offset1 = +1
, timezone1_DST = Central (CEST)
, utc_offset1_DST = +2
, postal ...
.
The production opened to positive reviews
and title casting included
Drew Sarich
Drew Sarich (born August 24, 1975) is an American stage actor and singer songwriter from St. Louis, who performes in the English and German languages.
Biography
Sarich received a BFA in Musical Theatre with a concentration in Directing from Bost ...
as
Rocky Balboa,
Wietske van Tongeren playing
Adrian Pennino
Adrianna Pennino-Balboa is a fictional character from the ''Rocky'' series, played by Talia Shire.
Shire was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of Adrian in ''Rocky''. The final scene in ''Rocky II'', in which Roc ...
and Terence Archie playing
Apollo Creed
Apollo Creed is a fictional character from the ''Rocky'' films, played by Carl Weathers.
He serves as the main antagonist in ''Rocky'' and '' Rocky II'' and also appears in ''Rocky III'' and ''Rocky IV''. He is a tough but agile boxer w ...
.
Having been written in
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
, the show was translated into
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
** Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ge ...
for its world premiere.
Broadway (2014)
On 28 April 2013, it was announced the show would transfer to
Broadway
Broadway may refer to:
Theatre
* Broadway Theatre (disambiguation)
* Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S.
** Broadway (Manhattan), the street
**Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...
in February 2014. On 26 August, it was announced that the show would open on 13 March 2014, at the
Winter Garden Theatre
The Winter Garden Theatre is a Broadway theatre at 1634 Broadway in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. It opened in 1911 under designs by architect William Albert Swasey. The Winter Garden's current design dates to 1922, when ...
, with previews commencing on 11 February 2014. The first preview was cancelled as a result of delayed technical rehearsals, due to power problems in the area. Following a scheduled rehearsal day previews commenced on 13 February. Tickets went on sale on 8 September 2013, with title casting announced shortly after, with
Andy Karl
Andy Karl (born August 28, 1974 as Andrew Karl Cesewski) is an American actor and singer, best known for performing in musical theatre. He appeared on Broadway in the original productions of the musical version of ''Groundhog Day'' (for which he ...
playing Rocky,
Margo Seibert playing Adrian and Terence Archie transferring from the Hamburg production, to reprise his role as Apollo Creed. Rehearsals for the production began on 18 December 2013, nearly two months prior to opening.
The cast performed as part of the ceremony for the
68th Tony Awards in June 2014. It was announced on 15 July 2014 that the show would close on 17 August 2014, after a run of 28 previews and 188 performances.
Scrapped Korean production
The Korean production, first announced in early 2016, was scheduled to open on October 29 of that year. However, after low ticket sales and production difficulties, the production was cancelled the day before the premiere. The announcement was heavily criticized, especially by the actors who were only notified of the cancellation via phone call.
Prague (2017)
''Rocky the Musical'' came to Prague for a short 4-to-5 month run. It was performed at the
Prague Congress Centre
Prague Congress Centre (Czech: Kongresové centrum Praha, shortly KCP), originally Palace of culture Prague (Czech: Palác kultury), is a large neofunctionalist building in Czech Republic capital Prague 4 district Nusle, located on the edge of Nu ...
.
Music
The show features 20 original songs, with additional music taken from the original
film series A film series or movie series (also referred to as a film franchise or movie franchise) is a collection of related films in succession that share the same fictional universe, or are marketed as a series.
This article explains what film series are ...
including "
Eye of the Tiger
"Eye of the Tiger" is a song by American rock band Survivor. It was released as a single from their third album of the same name and was also the theme song for the 1982 film ''Rocky III'', which was released a day before the single. The son ...
" and "
Gonna Fly Now
"Gonna Fly Now", also known as "Theme from ''Rocky''", is the theme song from the movie ''Rocky'', composed by Bill Conti with lyrics by Carol Connors and Ayn Robbins, and performed by DeEtta West and Nelson Pigford. Released in 1976 with ''Rocky ...
". The Broadway production of the musical uses a large twenty-member orchestra consisting of guitars, drums, bass, percussion, keyboards, reeds, flugelhorns, trumpets, trombone, bass trombone, violin, viola and cello.
Musical numbers
; Act I
* "Ain't Down Yet" - Company
* "My Nose Ain't Broken" - Rocky
* "Raining" - Adrian
* "Patriotic" - Apollo Creed, Miles Jergens, Apollo Girls
* "My Nose Ain't Broken (Reprise)" - Rocky
* "The Flip Side" - Rocky, Adrian
* "Adrian" - Rocky
* "Wanna Know Why" - Gazzo, Buddy, Rocky, Mickey
* "Fight From the Heart" - Rocky
* "One of Us" - Company
; Act II
* "Training Montage #1" - Company
* "In the Ring" - Mickey
* "Training Montage #2" - Company
* "Happiness" - Rocky, Adrian
* "I'm Done" - Adrian
* "Southside Celebrity" - Company
* "Adrian (Reprise)"- Adrian
* "Keep On Standing" - Rocky
* "Undefeated Man"- Apollo, Entourage
* "The Fight" - Company
Recordings
Principal roles and original cast
Reception
Critical response
The Hamburg production of ''Rocky the Musical'' received positive reviews from critics.
Accolades
Original Broadway production
References
External links
*
{{Ahrens/Flaherty
2012 musicals
Musicals based on films
Rocky (film series) music
Musicals by Lynn Ahrens
Musicals by Stephen Flaherty
Musicals by Thomas Meehan (writer)
Klitschko brothers
Boxing music
Sports in art
Tony Award-winning musicals
Rocky (film series) mass media