ARLINGTON, VA.: Every day is a winding road, particularly when it comes to staging a new musical—as Sheryl Crow is learning. Some years ago, Crow teamed up with Barry Levinson to pen the musical Diner, based on Levinson’s 1982 film. The project first scheduled a run at San Francisco’s Curran Theatre for fall 2012 and announced an April 2013 Broadway debut. Both were cancelled, and the original producer, BASE Entertainment, dropped the project.
With director/choreographer Kathleen Marshall at the helm and Scott Landis, her husband, on board as lead producer, the show is finally open (through Jan. 25) at Signature Theatre. Set in 1959 in Baltimore, the story follows a group of twentysomethings who reunite for a friend’s wedding. Matthew James Thomas (Pippin) and Derek Klena (The Bridges of Madison County) lead the cast as Fenwick and Boogie, played by Kevin Bacon and Mickey Rourke in the film, and sing the wonders and woes of adolescence. The first cut is the deepest, y’all.