JB 2nd Natl Tour Preview in Kansas City: Director Des McAnuff Knew He Didn’t Want A Traditional Approach to Jersey Boys!
April 28th, 2012Jersey Boys performances begin Wednesday and run through May 20 at the Music Hall in Municipal Auditorium in Kansas City, Missouri and reporter Robert Trussell has a great in-depth interview with director Des McAnuff, who states that when it came to directing the show, his first reaction was: No thanks. Here’s a preview:
“I’ve gotten myself into all sorts of trouble over this,†McAnuff said with a laugh by phone during a rehearsal break in Stratford, Ontario. McAnuff is in his final season as artistic director of the Stratford Shakespeare Festival.“You know, initially I didn’t see it,†he said. “But Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice, the book (script) writers, were very persistent. There was no book at that point. There was a kind of treatment or an outline. And the way this got resolved was they basically invited me to the party and we came up with an outline together.
“I was so enamored of that treatment that I put ‘Jersey Boys’ into production before we had a script. They were writing the book at the same time I was designing and planning the show. So it was a somewhat eccentric way of launching a new musical.â€
McAnuff knew he didn’t want a traditional approach.
Visit Kansascity.com to read the full interview.
