We are, as you may recall, intrigued by reports that Jerry Lewis will be directing a Broadway musical based on his 1963 movie, The Nutty Professor. Mr. Lewis has been announcing this as imminent for several years now.
We first noticed this back in June of 2006 when Jerry was talking about a 2007 tryout at the Old Globe in San Diego, which is a good place to try out a musical you hope to take to New York. The trouble with the report at that time was that he didn't seem to have an author or a composer. And also, the Old Globe had never heard of the project.
Then a few months later during the 2006 telethon, he brought on a fellow named Michael Andrew who, he said, would be starring in the show when it opened on Broadway in March of '08. Unmentioned there (but revealed elsewhere) is that Mr. Andrew is also apparently providing some or all of the funding for the project. Still, no writer or composer was mentioned.
In June of '09, it was announced that Marvin Hamlisch was composing the music and that Rupert Holmes was handling the book and lyrics. Okay, those are good, experienced folks…so it sounded like the show was starting to get somewhere.
A few months later, a reading was actually held with Michael Andrew in the lead. A very good sign.
And then in February of this year, Jerry was saying he was already casting with an eye towards opening the show in New York this October or November. No mention of out-of-town tryouts.
So what's the latest? As Jerry does interviews to promote the telethon this weekend, he's talking about the show. In this piece today, he says that right after the telethon, he'll be in New York to begin casting 70 parts for the musical, that it will open there in November of 2011 and that there will be six weeks of rehearsals before the show debuts at San Diego's Old Globe Theatre.
The timetable sounds credible…but the Old Globe still says the show is nowhere in their future.