NYTimes.com: “Marley,” a new musical about Bob Marley, the Jamaican reggae star who died in 1981 at the age of 36, will have its premiere next year at Center Stage in Baltimore, the company announced on Tuesday. The show will feature music composed by Marley, including the songs “Exodus” and “Rastaman Vibration,” with a book and direction by Kwame Kwei-Armah, Center Stage’s artistic director.
6 comments:
Reading the title was a bit misleading, I guessed that it was going to be an article on some cheesy version of Bob Marley Songs. I am happily mistaken because this sounds so much more interesting. I am not a huge Bob Marley fan so I really do not know much about his life or his music but it sounds like Center Stage is taking a ver intriguing route with this show. To go into more then just his music but into his life as person. Especially such a difficult yet productive time will be a real insight into Marley. This should be a very god show. I particularly like how the article says they are not looking for a look a like to play the actor but someone that can embody him as person. This is incredibly important because it is his soul that is important not his looks.
While the directors vision sounds good, about creating an actual story about his life an struggles, it might, although i hope it does not turn into the Reggae version of Ring of Fire, the Johny Cash tribute. It reminds be a little bit of Marylin, the fake musical that the show, SMASH tries to put on, a weak musical about the struggles of a famous successful person.
I really like this idea. The energy that Bob Marley possesses would translate so brilliantly to a musical. Like Olivia, I was a bit mislead by the opening of the article, but not in the way she was. When I hear about a musical that uses the songs of an existing musician, my mind goes straight to musicals like American Idiot and We Will Rock You. So I was expecting an article about a "rock opera" style musical with Bob Marley songs. I was relieved to hear that this musical is based off his life, and is not just a plot made to fit the songs.
I think, if this production is done right, this could be a huge hit in New York. This is especially true with Broadway's attempt to attract a diverse audience.
I don't know much about Bob Marley's life, so I think this could be a really interesting production. I like how they want to just do his life and have the songs more as a supplement rather than making a plot to fit around all the songs. Though, it does make sense to do it this way because in each stage of his life he wrote the songs for a reason, so I assume they will flow together nicely.
It will be interesting to see if this works out, or if it will be awful like other musicals that have tried to be about a musician's life.
I really hope this production works out, I am a huge Bob Marley fan. I am sort of picturing this show to turn out like the musical FELA! Which I thought was absolutely amazing in every aspect. I think that a show of that caliber and creativity is the only way to give Bob Marley justice with this show, otherwise I don’t see it going very well. The wonderful thing about FELA! was the way in which his story was told. It was a linear story, but told with such a particular narration and soul that the breaks into song and dance seemed to be a natural flow of the production. When I saw it on Broadway it was such a grand spectacle that it was incredibly captivating from the very first moment. The director talked about how important it would be to cast the role of Bob Marley well in the show and I completely agree, I mean who wouldn’t, but that could seriously kill the show. If the man who played Fela did not do a good job that entire show would have been lost, but because he was so talented and on the money in terms of embodying the character it made the show fantastic. If “Marley” makes it to New York I would love to go see it.
I really want to see when this production actually comes out. I really want to see it if I could. Bob Marley is a legend, so hopefully whoever the director picked to be Marley will not disappointed the fans. I'm pretty sure there are people who heard about this news and keeping up with the update just to see how it turns out ( me included) I was also wondering if it's going to turn out to be something that looks like Beautiful-Carole King the Musical that's like watching her biography plus listening to the entire album of Carole King Greatest Hits........ I wouldn't mind that, I love the show, So 20 bob Marley greatest hits shouldn't be bad too. Anyway, I'm excited about this article and waiting to see when the production comes out.
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