Cameron Crowe’s Almost Famous set to rock as a Broadway musical

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

Earlier today, producer Lia Vollack confirmed that writer Cameron Crowe's 2000 semi-autobiographical film, ALMOST FAMOUS, is poised to get the Broadway musical treatment. On behalf of Columbia Live Stage, Joey Parnes, Sue Wagner and John Johnson, Vollack stated that the new musical will introduce a book by Crowe, which details his Academy Award-winning screenplay, as well as music by Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winner Tom Kitt (PITCH PERFECT), containing lyrics by Kitt and Crowe, and direction by Jeremy Herrin.

The 2000 adventure comedic drama starred Billy Crudup, Patrick Fugit, Kate Hudson, Frances McDormand, Jason Lee, Zooey Deschanel and Anna Paquin, in a film about a high-school boy who is given the chance to write a story for Rolling Stone Magazine about an up-and-coming rock band as he accompanies them on their concert tour. The feature is loosely based on Crowe's experience as a teenager while writing for Rolling Stone in the ealy '70s. Talk about a high-pressure dream job, right?

Unfortunately, the film did not perform well at the box office, after earning just $47 million of the feature's $60 million dollar budget. However, as time went on, the film found its audience and began amassing a cult following among passionate fans. Thanks to solid word of mouth, and critics willing to vouch for the film's excellence, ALMOST FAMOUS secured four Academy Award nominations, which resulted in a win for Best Original Screenplay. The hard-rockin' feature also picked up a Grammy for Best Soundtrack, which included such hits as Paul Simon’s “America,” Rod Stewart’s “Every Picture Tells a Story,” Led Zeppelin’s “That’s The Way,” David Bowie’s version of Lou Reed’s “I’m Waiting For The Man,” as well as an iconic sing-a-long version of Elton John’s “Tiny Dancer.”

Earlier this week, Crowe posted a teaser video to his official Twitter account, which includes a video of Kitt tickling the ivories as the camera pans to a note pad tacked to the wall. On the pad, we can see the words "Four Sticks" written on it, as well as "The Wind," which are references to songs by Led Zeppelin and Cat Stevens, respectively.

You can see the tweet for yourself below:

No casting announcements for the Broadway rendition of ALMOST FAMOUS have been announced at this time.

Source: Deadline Hollywood

About the Author

Born and raised in New York, then immigrated to Canada, Steve Seigh has been a JoBlo.com editor, columnist, and critic since 2012. He started with Ink & Pixel, a column celebrating the magic and evolution of animation, before launching the companion YouTube series Animation Movies Revisited. He's also the host of the Talking Comics Podcast, a personality-driven audio show focusing on comic books, film, music, and more. You'll rarely catch him without headphones on his head and pancakes on his breath.