Diner, New Musical from Sheryl Crow, Postpones Pre-Broadway Engagement in San Francisco

Sheryl Crow's musical adaptation of Diner has postponed its pre-Broadway engagement at San Francisco's SHN Curran Theatre. The run was originally scheduled to begin October 23 and continue through November 18. A four-week fully staged workshop of the musical will take place during that time in New York instead. Diner is set to open at a yet to be determined Broadway theater on April 10, 2013, and may still have a San Francisco try-out during early 2013. 

The production team credits the postponement due to a change in the scale of the production. With many large scale musicals competing for Broadway theaters in the spring of 2013, the producers and creative team decided to see if they could stage the show in a house with a capacity no larger than 1,100 seats. The retooled production will not be complete in time to begin the San Francisco run as scheduled. 

"I love that we are envisioning Diner for a more intimate theater," director and choreographer Kathleen Marshall said in a statement. "I think [Barry Levinson's] wonderfully vivid characters and Sheryl's fabulously rockin' score will be even more thrilling in a smaller venue where the audience can expereince the show viscerally."

Diner is set in Baltimore, 1959, when six high school friends reunite at the one place they know they'll always belong: the Diner. Now in their twenties, the friends have stumbled into adulthood and struggle to keep from growing apart. Life, love, responsibility–it's all on the table. In addition to Crow's score, the musical will feature a book by the film's original writer/director Barry Levinson.

The 1982 movie Diner starred Kevin Bacon, Tony winner Ellen Barkin, Tim Daly, Steve Guttenberg, Paul Reiser, Mickey Rourke and Daniel Stern. Levinson, who made his directorial debut with Diner, also received an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay for the film. No casting for the musical has been announced at this time.