Theater News

Joe Brooks and Company Offer Preview of In My Life

Members of the press and the theater industry were given a “sneak preview” of the upcoming Broadway musical In My Life yesterday at The Four Seasons restaurant. Written and directed by Joe Brooks, the Grammy- and Oscar-winning composer of the song “You Light Up My Life”, the show is scheduled to begin previews at the Music Box Theater on September 27 and to open on October 20.

In My Life concerns JT, a musician with Tourette’s Syndrome, who falls for Jen, a journalist with obsessive-compulsive disorder. Their romance is “overseen” by JT’s mother Elizabeth and sister Vera, who have died in a car accident. The show’s cast consists of Jessica Boevers (Jen), Christopher Hanke (JT), Roberta Gumbel (Elizabeth), and Chiara Navarra (Vera). The creative team includes choreographer Richard Stafford, set designer Allen Moyer, costume designer Catherine Zuber, and lighting designer Christopher Akerlind.

At yesterday’s event, Brooks performed the show’s title tune, after which the cast sang three other numbers from the score: “Life Turns on a Dime,” “I Am My Mother’s Son,” and “When She Danced.” Then Brooks performed a medley of his commercial jingles from the 1970s, written to hawk such products as Dr. Pepper, Pepsi, Maxwell House Coffee, and Dial Soap, followed by a section of his score for the Oscar-winning film The Garden of the Fitzi-Continis. He ended the presentation by singing “You Light Up My Life,” the title tune of the 1977 movie, which he also wrote and directed.