It's all happening now that a musical adaptation of Almost Famous, the hit 2000 movie, premiered on Broadway. Cameron Crowe, who wrote the semi-autobiographical screenplay, has penned the book and lyrics for the musical adaptation. Get Almost Famous tickets on New York Theatre Guide.
The Almost Famous musical centers on William, a child prodigy who decides he wants to be a rock music journalist. While on his first assignment covering a Black Sabbath concert, the guitarist for the opening act, the up-and-coming band Stillwater, takes a liking to him. Soon, he's sent on the road with the band on assignment for Rolling Stone magazine, where he quickly discovers the inner conflicts among the band members. But he finds himself losing his objectivity as he becomes part of their inner circle and falls for their lead groupie, Penny Lane.
The original movie featured a star-studded cast including Patrick Fugit, Kate Hudson, Billy Crudup, Frances McDormand, Jason Lee, Zooey Deschanel, and more. The film was nominated for four Oscars and won for Best Original Screenplay; won a Grammy Award for Best Compilation Soundtrack Album for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media; and won two Golden Globe Awards, for Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy and Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture for Hudson as Penny Lane.
Almost Famous is partly inspired by Crowe's own experiences writing for Rolling Stone as a teenager and includes multiple real people as characters, including rock journalists Lester Bangs and Ben Fong-Torres. Fictional characters like Penny Lane and William's mom are also loosely based on groupie Pennie Lane Trumbull of The Flying Garter Girls and Crowe's actual mother, respectively. All these characters are preserved in the musical.
Crowe is making his Broadway debut with the show. But collaborating with him on Almost Famous on Broadway is a veteran composer/lyricist: Tom Kitt, who's won Tony, Grammy, and Emmy Awards, as well as a Pulitzer Prize, for his work. He won multiple accolades for composing the Pulitzer-winning musical Next to Normal in 2008, and more recently, he's been nominated for Tony Awards at three of the past four ceremonies leading up to 2022: for Flying Over Sunset in 2022, Jagged Little Pill in 2020, and SpongeBob SquarePants in 2018.
The Almost Famous musical adaptation premiered at the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego in 2019 to positive reviews, and the cast from that run is also leading the premiere of Almost Famous in New York.
What theatre is Almost Famous playing in?
Almost Famous is at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre, at 242 W. 45th St. between Eighth Avenue and Broadway.
How long is Almost Famous on Broadway?
Almost Famous on Broadway runs 2 hours and 30 minutes, including one intermission.
Almost Famous tickets are available on New York Theatre Guide now.
