Huey Lewis and the Stars of The Heart of Rock and Roll Celebrate Their Broadway Opening

The Heart of Rock and Roll, the upbeat new romcom musical set to the songs of ’80s hitmakers Huey Lewis and the News, celebrated its arrival on Broadaway ahead of an official opening night at the James Earl Jones Theatre on April 22. Broadway.com hit the hot pink carpet—yes, hot pink—to speak with the stars and Lewis himself.

“I wish I could bottle it and save it for tomorrow morning,” Lewis, who was accompanied on the pink carpet by Cyndi Lauper and Jimmy Kimmel, said of the opening-night vibes. “I love Broadway. I knew nothing of Broadway 'til I saw Mamma Mia! A neighbor asked me to go see Mamma Mia! with him, and I thought, 'Ugh, I'm not gonna like this. I'm a rock and roller. Broadway?' And I loved it.”

“What Huey does is he writes from his soul,” said Corey Cott, who plays Bobby, the frontman of a struggling rock band in the show. “That's what makes it so effortless to bring into a musical and so easy to act.” McKenzie Kurtz, who plays Bobby’s love interest, Cassandra, singled out the orchestrations of Brian Usifer for praise. “A lot of them sound completely different than the original material, so it's been really cool to sing all of this music,” she said.

“Oh man, it's everything,” said Tamika Lawrence, who plays the character of Roz in the show. “I grew up listening to Huey's music, so to have the honor to sing it every night—I don't take it lightly.”