I was part of the original NYC workshop of this when it was called the Baby and Johnny Project (Gads, I still kept my cap with that logo on it...) and I can assure every single one of you that everything that has been said in this thread is ABSOLUTELY true! Good or bad, you are all correct!
At first it sounded so promising. We had a Joffrey Ballet dancer as Johnny...plenty of now famous names (Noah Weisberg, Matthew Morrison, Aaron Lazar, Christy Candler, Christian Borle) in the cast, and Eleanor B. there on a daily basis. Her feeling was that she was going to use the stage show to "fix" all the movie's mistakes. Well lemme tell ya...we had about 29 scene changes in Act I alone!! The only live music was the small band I was a part of, about 6-7 of us and we only played two or three tunes. Everything else was the DD music straight off the soundtrack, played by a sound guy on the house system.
Long story short; practically no one came to see the show. At least no one of consequence and the project seemed to go nowhere. Judging from what I have read, it sounds like it got there quick!
It was a blessing to work with such amazing people. Robert LuPone was the original father before Michael Rupert stepped in. Kaitlin was already in the show. (She was also doing Bat Boy downtown while she did this workshop, if memory serves correctly). It was a joy to come to work and have so much fun, but deep down I think most of us really knew it wasn't gonna work. It was too long and too bogged down.
Sadly, I've no more desire to see it than anyone else and I'm just as surprised it lasted this long.
"Sticks and stones, sister. Here, have a Valium!"
