Twyla Tharp's Come Fly Away Sets Dates at Broadway's Marquis Theatre

Tony winner Twyla Tharp’s new musical Come Fly Away (formerly Come Fly With Me) is confirmed to play Broadway this spring. The show, conceived, choreographed and directed by Tharp and featuring the vocals of Frank Sinatra, will begin previews on March 1 at the Marquis Theatre and open there on March 25, 2010.

Come Fly Away follows four couples as they fall in and out of love during one song and dance filled evening at a crowded nightclub. Blending the legendary vocals of Sinatra with a live onstage 19-piece big band and 15 dancers, the show features a hit parade of classics, including “Fly Me to the Moon,” “My Way” and “That’s Life.” The show’s score combines classic and newly discovered vocal performances from the Sinatra archives along with signature arrangements (by Nelson Riddle, Billy May, Quincy Jones) and new charts. The new musical debuted at Atlanta’s Alliance Theatre in the fall.

Tharp’s creative relationship with the music of Sinatra began in 1976 with the premiere of Once More Frank, a duet created for the American Ballet Theatre, performed by Tharp and Mikhail Baryshnikov. The collaboration continued with Nine Sinatra Songs, Tharp’s acclaimed piece for 14 dancers, which had its world premiere with Twyla Tharp Dance in 1982, and was followed by Sinatra Suite, a duet featuring Baryshnikov and Elaine Kudo, which had its world premiere in 1984 with American Ballet Theatre at the Kennedy Center. Citing it as one of the purest expressions of his body of work, Sinatra requested that Sinatra Suite be performed when he received his Kennedy Center Honors Award.

Come Fly Away features scenic design by James Youmans, costume design by Katherine Roth, lighting design by Donald Holder and sound design by Peter McBoyle. Music supervision is by the late Sam Lutfiyya and Patrick Vaccariello. Additional arrangements and orchestrations are by Dave Pierce and Don Sebesky.

Dancer John Selya, who received a Tony nomination for Tharp’s 2002 musical Movin’ Out starred in the Atlanta production. The Broadway cast of the new musical will be announced shortly.