Jimmy Buffett stage musical to premiere at California theater

By Mark Kennedy | Associated Press

NEW YORK — The Jimmy Buffett musical will make its world premiere next year somewhere nice and warm — the La Jolla Playhouse in California.

Producers said Wednesday that the show, which combines Buffett’s blend of rock and country tunes with an original story by writers Greg Garcia and Mike O’Malley, will start grooving onstage on May 16, 2017.

Buffett has had hits with such beach-bum classics as “A Pirate Looks at Forty,” ”Margaritaville,” ”Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes” and “Cheeseburger in Paradise.”

The new musical is described “as the story of a part-time singer, part-time bartender, and fulltime good ol’ boy named Tully who suddenly finds himself in uncharted territory — falling in love with a beautiful, career-minded tourist.”

Playhouse artistic director Christopher Ashley, the director of the Tony-winner “Memphis,” will direct the still-untitled show. The producers of the musical are Frank Marshall, Mindy Rich, Anita Waxman and Beth Williams.

Garcia is the creator of TV shows including “My Name Is Earl” and “Yes, Dear,” in which O’Malley also starred.

Buffet and Marshall — the producer of such films as “Back to the Future” and “Raiders of the Lost Ark” — teamed up to create Parrothead Productions, which helped produce such Broadway shows as “Big Fish” and “Doctor Zhivago.”

La Jolla Playhouse has been home to many big shows, including the musicals “Jersey Boys,” ”Thoroughly Modern Millie,” ”Cry-Baby,” ”Bonnie & Clyde” and “Hands on a Hardbody.”

Associated Press