Robert De Niro to Direct the World Premiere Musical A Bronx Tale at Paper Mill Playhouse
(© Brigitte Lacombe)
New Jersey's Paper Mill Playhouse has announced the lineup of productions set for its 2015-16 season.
The season will open with Bandstand, a world-premiere musical, featuring music by Richard Oberacker and a book and lyrics by Oberacker and Robert Taylor. The story follows a mismatched band of World War II veterans who join together to compete in a national radio contest in hopes of winning instant stardom. Tony Award winner Andy Blankenbuehler directs the production, set to run from October 8-November 8.
A Christmas Story: The Musical will follow as the theater's holiday offering. Based on the 1983 film, the production features a Tony-nominated score by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul and a book by Joseph Robinette. Performances will run from November 25-January 3, 2016.
Two-time Oscar winner Robert De Niro then comes to Paper Mill to direct the world premiere musical A Bronx Tale alongside four-time Tony winner Jerry Zaks. Running from February 4-March 6, 2016, the production features a book by Chazz Palminteri, music by Tony and Oscar winner Alan Menken, lyrics by Glenn Slater, and choreography by Sergio Trujillo. Based on Palminteri's acclaimed one-man show, A Bronx Tale is set against the backdrop of racial strife and organized crime in the 1960s as an Italian-American teenager must choose between the father who raised him and the mob-boss father figure who fascinates him.
Pump Boys and Dinettes, a musical tribute to life by the roadside, will be next on the Paper Mill stage. Written by John Foley, Mark Hardwick, Debra Monk, Cass Morgan, John Schimmel, and Jim Wann, the show premiered in 1982. Performances will run from April 6-May 1, 2016.
Leonard Bernstein, Arthur Laurents, and Stephen Sondheim's classic musical West Side Story will close out the season, running from June 1-26, 2016. Paper Mill Artistic Director Mark S. Hoebee will helm the production.
