Jukebox Hero: The Musical
A new musical built around the hits songs from classic rock band Foreigner will make its world premiere this winter in Toronto. Jukebox Hero, The Musical from Calgary-based Annerin Theatricals will play an exclusive limited engagement at Toronto’s Ed Mirvish Theatre from February 20-24, 2019. Tickets are available here.
Foreigner recently celebrated its 40th anniversary.
A coming-of-age saga featuring 16 of Foreigner’s iconic Top 30 hits, Jukebox Hero, The Musical tells the story of the closing of rust-belt town of Blaydon, Penn.’s biggest factory. Confronted with a deluge of unemployment and instability, the community calls on Ryan, a local boy turned rock ’n’ roll superstar, for help. Yet Ryan never left his roots on good terms, so he must confront the ghosts of his past as well as a home he no longer recognises.
The musical originated in a conversation between Foreigner founder and lead guitarist Mick Jones and Diana Ross. During a chance meeting in an airport lounge in the 1980s, Ross planted the seed of the idea that the band’s music belonged in a stage production. The result is a production that includes “Cold As Ice,” “Hot Blooded,” “Waiting For A Girl Like You”and “I Want To Know What Love Is.”
Canadian audiences have already tuned into the Jukebox Hero experience through several workshop productions in Calgary and Edmonton. The Calgary Herald reported that the response was “electric” with critics lauding its “eye-popping set” and performances.
Prolific British writing duo Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais (The Commitments, Across the Universe) were brought in to pen the book, with an artistic team led by Mick Jones and Foreigner’s managers Phil Carson and Stewart Young, whose career track record also includes work with AC/DC, Emerson, Lake and Palmer, Yes and Led Zeppelin. The new Canadian production will be directed by Randy Johnson (A Night With Janis Joplin), and choreographed by Parker Esse, with musical direction by Mark Camilleri (Toxic Avenger, Dr. Seuss’s The Lorax).
Jones continues to find ways to reinvigorate the band and their music. He talked to Best Classic Bands about the group’s 2018 orchestral release. Foreigner have tour dates in 2018 and 2019. Tickets are available here.
Related: Our inside story of how Foreigner signed with Atlantic Records
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