Rocky: musical coming to Broadway in 2014

Stage Entertainment USA and Sylvester Stallone have announced that Rocky, a musical adaptation of the Oscar-winning 1976 film of the same name, will open at Broadway's Winter Garden Theatre in Mar 2014, following previews from Feb 2014.

Rocky brings to life the story of struggling small time Philly boxer, 'Rocky Balboa,' who gets a once-in-a-lifetime shot to go the distance against heavyweight champ 'Apollo Creed.' However, will the blossoming relationship between Rocky and his shy girlfriend 'Adrian' survive the contest.

Rocky features an original score by Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens, the Tony Award-winning and Academy Award-nominated songwriters behind 'Ragtime,' 'Once on This Island' and 'Anastasia,' and a book by multiple Tony Award-winner Thomas Meehan ('The Producers,' 'Hairspray' 'Annie') and Sylvester Stallone, who was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for the 1976 Oscar-winning Best Picture, Rocky.

The production is directed by Tony Award nominee Alex Timbers ('Bloody, Bloody Andrew Jackson' and 'Peter and the Starcatcher'), and features choreography by Kelly Devine, best known for the long-running Broadway hit 'Rock of Ages,' and fight choreography by Steven Hoggett, who received a Tony Award nomination for his work on 'Once.'

Produced on a shoestring budget, the original 1975 film, Rocky, was shot in 28 days, and starred its young and then-unknown screenwriter, Sylvester Stallone. Stallone's performance would earn him an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor and launch his acting career.

The small underdog film went on to become an American film classic, winning the 1976 Academy Award for Best Picture, and launching Rocky Balboa as one of the most successful and iconic characters in Hollywood history.

Sylvester Stallone said,

I couldn't be more proud or more excited about this production and how my original story of Rocky Balboa has been brought to spectacular life onstage. The story of Rocky was very much like my life at the time - starting out with nothing, having to fight for roles and recognition. So I put those feelings into the body of a boxer and I had no idea there were so many millions of people that felt the same way. Alex Timbers and the entire creative team have not only honored that original impulse, but have made his story as exciting, heart-breaking, and inspiring as it was when Rocky first went the distance on screen."

We are very proud to be producing the new musical, Rocky, on Broadway next spring, following its critically acclaimed world premiere in Hamburg last fall. The creative team behind Rocky includes some of Broadway's most sought after and superlative artists who together have crafted a musical that is epic and yet intimate, romantic yet muscular, much like the Academy Award-winning Best Picture that took the world by storm over thirty years ago."

The 1976 film 'Rocky,' was written by Sylvester Stallone and directed by John G. Avildsen. Stallone starred as 'Rocky Balboa' and Talia Shire as his shy girlfriend 'Adrian.' The film won three Oscars, including Best Film.