Monday October 23 11:15 AM EDT
John Mellencamp Working On
Musical With Stephen King
dailynews.yahoo.com
John Mellencamp Working On Musical With Stephen
King (10/23/00, 7 a.m. ET) - John Mellencamp is
collaborating with best-selling author Stephen King on
a musical they hope will one day end up on the Great
White Way. "Our goal is someday to end up on Broadway, [but] we're not going
to take it straight to Broadway," Mellencamp told Billboard. There's a ghost
story at the center of the project, but the idea came initially from Mellencamp
and not King, who's known for horror novels like Carrie, Salem's Lot, and The
Shining. There's no word on when the show might be staged, or how far along it
is at this point.
The play revolves around a pair of brothers in their late teens or early 20s "who
are very competitive and dislike each other immensely," according to
Mellencamp. Their father takes them to the cabin where his older brothers, who
also hated each other, killed themselves, and their ghosts haunt the cabin, along
with some other spirits.
Mellencamp has already written four songs for the as-yet-unnamed play, with
titles including "You Don't Know Me" and "My Name Is Joe," and the singer
says he's written each with specific characters in mind. "I plan to have every
person sing from their generation. When the 18-year-old sings, he'll be rapping
...When the people in their 70s are singing, they'll be singing in the style of
Broadway or the style of [Frank] Sinatra or country." Mellencamp added that the
songs will run the gamut of American music.
Mellencamp and King are treading ground that has seen some spectacular
failures of late, most notably with Paul Simon's ill-conceived Capeman, but the
singer said neither of them is worried about the outcome: "That's the great thing
about this for Steve and I both; we don't really have to do this."
--Bruce Simon, New York |
