Xanadu librettist Douglas Carter Beane's musical Big Time may be headed for Broadway. Xanadu producer Robert Ahrens has announced plans to mount a workshop of the musical, which features a score by Doug Cohen, in September, followed by an unspecified out-of-town tryout in 2009 and a Broadway opening in spring 2010. Christopher Ashley, who helmed a production at the 2005 New York Musical Theatre Festival before reteaming with Beane for Xanadu, will direct.
Big Time centers on two down-on-their-luck lounge singers on a U.N. cruise ship that is held hostage by terrorist's intent on destroying the world. The NYMF mounting starred Debbie Gravitte, Sal Viviano and the late Patrick Quinn, with Raymond Bokhour and Xanadu star Jackie Hoffman as terrorists.
According to a favorable New York Times review of the show at NYMF, Beane originally wrote the Big Time script as a film for Oliver Stone, but it was shelved after 9/11. He later joined with Cohen to turn the screenplay into a musical. A Broadway.com review of the NYMF mounting noted, "While the screwball tuner scores some laughs, it is still rather disappointing considering all the high-profile talent involved."
