The Heart of Rock and Roll Pulls the Plug on Broadway

The Heart of Rock and Roll, Broadway's new romantic musical comedy set to the hits of Huey Lewis and the News, will play its final performance at the James Earl Jones Theatre on June 23. At the time of closing, the show will have had 24 previews and 72 performances. The production began its run on March 29, opening April 22. 

The Heart of Rock and Roll premiered in San Diego at the Old Globe Theatre in 2018. It has a book by Jonathan A. Abrams from a story by Abrams and Tyler Mitchell, with Gordon Greenberg directing. The show follows Bobby (Corey Cott), the frontman of a struggling rock band who gives up his rock star dreams, gets a job at a box company and falls in love with the boss’s daughter, Cassandra (McKenzie Kurtz). Then his old band gets the break they’d been waiting for. The score features such feel-good numbers as “The Power of Love,” “Hip to Be Square,” "Workin’ For A Livin’," "Stuck With You" and “If This Is It.”

In addition to Cott and Kurtz, the Broadway cast also features Josh Breckenridge, F. Michael Haynie, Zoe Jensen, Tamika Lawrence, Raymond J. Lee, John-Michael Lyles, Orville Mendoza, Billy Harrigan Tighe and John Dossett.

The creative team for The Heart of Rock and Roll includes choreographer Lorin Lotarro, lighting designer Japhy Weideman and sound designer John Shivers. Music supervision, arrangements and orchestrations are by Brian Usifer with music direction by Will Van Dyke.