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Dateline: 8th January, 2004 The Next Off-Broadway Hit Musical? Julie-Ann Marshall has been kind enough to give us an initial peak at a new off-Broadway musical Johnny Guitar in advance of its opening. Johnny Guitar - The Musical is an epic tale of love and jealousy that embraces western conventions with an unusual sense of gender, a strong sense of humour and a rousing melodic score that echoes the steamy ballads and doo-wap hits of the 1950's. The novel Johnny Guitar was written in 1953 with a dedication to Joan Crawford. At the urging of Crawford, Republic Pictures bought the Screen rights and the 1954 movie (spot the impending Golden Anniversary) has since become a cult classic. Francois Truffaut wrote that it was "reminiscent of Beauty and the Beast,with Johnny being the Beauty..." and Martin Scorsese described it as,"...one of cinema's great operatic works...". In Johnny Guitar - The Musical the myth of the Old West explodes. Two tough women face off in the high New Mexico desert of 1885. Vienna is a saloon keeper who isn't ashamed of the way she earned her money (back in the days when she should have been). Emma is the frustrated cattle baroness who controls the town with an iron hand, only to lose her grip when she's attracted to the Dancin' Kid. (As Vienna puts it, "The Kid makes Emma feel like a woman. That frightens her"). The arrival of Johnny Guitar, a stranger with a secret past, sets the stage for a standoff unlike anything the Old West - or off-Broadway- has ever seen. With eight actors, four musician, fourteen original songs and one catfight, Johnny Guitar - The Musical offers a hilarious recipe for a great night out. With a book by Nicholas van Hoogstraten, Music by Martin Silvestri and Music & Lyrics by Joel Higgins this "Lounge Western" could well be Off-Broadway's newest hit. Johnny Guitar - The Musical, will open in March 2004 at the Century Center for Performing Arts at Union Square, New York. Reporter: Philip Fisher Please note that all three Archive indices are very long and will therefore take some time to download.
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