The Broadway-bound new musical,\u00a0The Wanderer, based on the life and music of\u00a0Dion DiMucci\u00a0will receive an industry invitation-only reading on Friday, January 23rd\u00a0in New York City.<\/p>\n
Telling the story of the legendary New York\u2019s musician,\u00a0The Wanderer\u00a0is produced by\u00a0Jill Menza, Charles Messina<\/a>, with\u00a0Stevie Van Zandt<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Maureen Van Zandt<\/a>\u00a0(who have recently joined the producing team) in cooperation with\u00a0Dion DiMucci.\u00a0<\/p>\n This new chapter of\u00a0The Wanderer\u2019s\u00a0creative journey to Broadway focuses on the earlier years of\u00a0Dion\u2019s\u00a0life and career, with casting that reflects the immediacy, electricity and life challenges of a star on the rise.<\/p>\n The cast for the reading will include\u00a0Joshua Bassett<\/a>\u00a0(Little Shop of Horrors\u00a0Off-Broadway, tv\u2019s \u201cHigh School Musical: The Musical: The Series\u201d) as Dion,\u00a0Olivia Holt<\/a>\u00a0(Chicago\u00a0on Broadway, tv\u2019s \u201cCruel Summer\u201d) as Susan, and\u00a0Diego Andres Rodriguez<\/a>\u00a0(Sunset Boulevard\u00a0on Broadway, EVITA\u00a0in the West End) as Johnny.<\/p>\n Other characters will be read by\u00a0Tommy Bracco<\/a>, Stephen Cerf<\/a>, Sarah Daniels<\/a>,\u00a0Morgan Dudley<\/a>, Billy Finn<\/a>, Natalie Gallo<\/a>, Kingsley Leggs<\/a>, Jess LeProtto<\/a>, Robin Masella<\/a>,\u00a0Janay\u00e9\u00a0McAlpine, Julio Rey<\/a>, Deandre Sevon<\/a>, Gabi Stapula<\/a>, Johnny Tammaro<\/a>, Joli Tribuzio<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Noah Weisberg<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Wanderer had its world premiere production at Paper Mill Playhouse in 2022. Get a look at that production here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n The Wanderer\u00a0is written by\u00a0Charles Messina<\/a>\u00a0(A Room of My Own) and directed by Emmy nominee\u00a0Kenneth Ferrone<\/a>\u00a0(Prelude to a Kiss\u00a0the musical at Milwaukee Rep,\u00a0Cruel Intentions\u00a0National Tour, and \u201cRent: Live\u201d on FOX), with choreography by\u00a0Sarah O\u2019Gleby\u00a0(Almost Famous, Shucked)\u00a0and\u00a0music direction, orchestrations and arrangements by\u00a0Sonny Paladino<\/a>\u00a0(Natasha, Pierre, & the Great Comet of 1812, A Beautiful Noise).<\/p>\n \u201cDion\u00a0puts the \u2018Yo\u2019 in New York. This is an authentic story of a kid from the Bronx who reached the highest of highs, fell to the lowest of lows \u2014\u00a0and lived to be the realest of real,\u201d\u00a0says\u00a0Charles Messina<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Jill Menza\u00a0said \u201cThis next chapter of\u00a0The Wanderer\u00a0feels especially electric. We\u2019re thrilled to be moving forward with a creative team and dynamic cast that capture both the raw youth and the lasting soul of\u00a0Dion\u2019s\u00a0iconic music and story.\u201d<\/p>\n Stevie Van Zandt<\/a>\u00a0said, \u201cDion\u00a0is not only a musical pioneer, but also an active, vital artist, who for more than 50 years has brought a fresh energy and excitement to popular music influencing song writers and performers for generations.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cDion\u2019s\u00a0music has been an inspiration to me and so many others for a lifetime,\u201d said\u00a0Maureen Van Zandt<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Dion\u00a0the man is just as – if not more – inspiring, and his story is one that needs to be told.\u00a0The Wanderer\u00a0does that beautifully, honestly, and joyfully. \u201c<\/p>\n Dion. One name set the standard of cool in 1960s\u2019 New York.\u00a0The Wanderer\u00a0is\u202fthe riveting true story of a troubled Italian American kid from the Bronx\u2019s unlikely journey through fame as a teenage heartthrob to eventual Rock & Roll icon in intimate detail. The man Bruce Springsteen<\/a>\u202fonce\u00a0called \u201cthe link between\u202fFrank Sinatra<\/a>\u202fand Rock & Roll,\u201d Dion\u2019s music helped define a generation, but the darker side of success threatened to bring it all crashing down.<\/p>\n The Wanderer\u00a0is a moving, no-holds-barred new musical about the glow of the spotlight, the shadow of addiction, and the triumph of the human spirit against all odds, set to the iconic sound of an incomparable era in American music.<\/p>\n A proud New Yorker,\u00a0Dion\u00a0has written four songs with \u201cNew York\u201d in the title at different times in his career!\u00a0\u00a0 Most recently, released last year, \u201cNew York Minute\u201d (co-written with Mike Aquilina); \u201cNew York Is My Home\u201d co-written and performed with Paul Simon<\/a> in 2015; \u201cKing of the New York streets in 1989; and \u201cNew York City Song\u201d (co-written with Bill Tuohy) in 1975.\u00a0<\/p>\n A few of the noted and celebrated artists who have collaborated with\u00a0Dion\u00a0throughout his career include\u00a0Bryan Adams<\/a>, Jeff Beck<\/a>, Rory Block, Joe Bonamassa, Eric Clapton<\/a>, Shemekia Copeland<\/a>, Peter Frampton<\/a>, Billy Gibbons, Van Morrison, Lou Reed<\/a>, Brian Setzer<\/a>, Paul Simon<\/a>, Bruce Springsteen<\/a>, Susan Tedeschi, and Steve Van<\/a> Zandt, among many others.<\/p>\n Casting for\u00a0The Wanderer\u00a0is by The Telsey Office<\/a>\/Patrick Goodwin<\/a>, CSA.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Broadway-bound new musical,\u00a0The Wanderer, based on the life and music of\u00a0Dion DiMucci\u00a0will receive an industry invitation-only reading…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":512941,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,405,403,5226,5225,5228,5227,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-512940","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-new-york","10":"tag-new-york-city","11":"tag-newyork","12":"tag-newyorkcity","13":"tag-ny","14":"tag-nyc","15":"tag-united-states","16":"tag-united-states-of-america","17":"tag-unitedstates","18":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","19":"tag-us","20":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115887412484902896","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/512940","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=512940"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/512940\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/512941"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=512940"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=512940"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=512940"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}