Tony winner Savion Glover (Bring in ‘da Noise, Bring in ‘da Funk; Jelly's Last Jam) and Tony Goldwyn (Scandal, The Inheritance) will co-direct a Broadway revival of the classic Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart, and John O'Hara musical Pal Joey during the 2022–2023 Broadway season.
Glover will also choreograph the re-imagined production, featuring a new book by Oscar nominee Richard LaGravenese (The Fisher King, Behind the Candelabra). LaGravenese has adapted O’Hara’s book so that the primary setting is a South Side Chicago nightclub in the 1940s; the character of Linda, formerly a stenographer-clerk, is now an aspiring singer.
With the permission of the Rodgers and Hart estate, the creative team has interpolated other tunes by the legendary songwriters, including “Where or When,” “The Lady Is a Tramp,” “It Never Entered My Mind,” “My Heart Stood Still,” “Falling in Love With Love,” and “There’s a Small Hotel.”
The creative team also includes set designer Derek McLane, costume designer Emilio Sosa, lighting designer Natasha Katz, and orchestrator-arranger-music supervisor Daryl Waters.
The 1940 musical was groundbreaking for being a kind of musical character study—uniquely focusing on a selfish heel. Gene Kelly was Joey, and Vivienne Segal was Vera, introducing "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered." Joey got the choice numbers "I Could Write a Book" and (with Vera) "In Our Little Den of Iniquity."
A 1952 Broadway revival of Pal Joey (with Harold Lang) was a bigger hit than the original, while the 1957 film starred Frank Sinatra, Rita Hayworth, and Kim Novak. A 1963 revival starred Bob Fosse, who was Tony-nominated for starring as Joey. A 1976 Broadway staging featured Dixie Carter, Joan Copeland, and Christopher Chadman.
The show was also part of the second season of Encores! at New York City Center in a 1995 concert version starring Patti LuPone and Peter Gallagher. Stockard Channing, Martha Plimpton, and Matthew Risch (replacing an injured Christian Hoff) headed the cast of the most recent Broadway revival, for Roundabout Theatre Company in 2008.
Jeffrey Richards will produce the upcoming revival with co-producers Funny World Productions, Willette Klausner, and Irene Gandy.
