Interludes

THE HANGOVER REPORT – Cameron Crowe’s musical version of ALMOST FAMOUS is a freewheeling ode to rock ‘n’ roll and the experiences that form us

• By drediman
• November 4, 2022
• No Comments

Last night, Cameron Crowe’s musical adaptation of his own film Almost Famous opened on Broadway at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre (Crowe won an Academy Award for penning the screenplay of the 2000 film). Loosely based on Crowe’s own coming-of-age experience during the 1970s, the work tells the story of William, a music aficionado and budding rock critic who somehow finds himself touring the country with and befriending members of the fictitious rock band Stillwater and its groupies. As with the film, the musical version remains an ode to rock and roll and the indelible experiences that shape us.

The musical features music and lyrics by Tom Kitt, who also wrote the driving rock scores of shows such as High Fidelity (the stage adaptation of another rock-focused film), the Pulitzer Prize-winning Next to Normal, and the Idina Mezel vehicle If/Then. His work here is rather good, and the 20-odd new songs he has written for the musical blend effortlessly with rock classics such as Elton John’s “Tiny Dancer” and Joni Mitchell’s “River”. There’s an organic, almost unruly and haphazard quality with which the stage version’s narrative unfolds, which I am sure was intended to evoke the freewheeling spontaneity of being on the road. As such, Crowe’s somewhat unfocused book does well to incorporate Kitt’s songs, giving the impression that both book and score were sprung from the same mind.

British director Jeremy Herrin stages the piece on Derek McKlane’s skeletal set as if through the gauze of memory. Most of the cast reprise their performances from the musical’s pre-Broadway tryout at the Old Globe in San Diego. Of the principal players, the convincingly youthful and immensely likable Casey Likes (as William), the deliciously tart Anika Larsen (looking like a dead ringer for Frances McDormand as William’s mother), and the butter-voiced, effortlessly sultry Solea Pfeiffer (as the mysterious, carefree groupie Penny Lane) are particularly memorable.

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ALMOST FAMOUS
Broadway, Musical
Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre
2 hours, 30 minutes (with one intermission)
Open run