Whatsonstage.com is reporting that the latest music icon to receive musical treatment will be Neil Sedaka in the upcoming Laughter in the Rain, titled from his 1975 hit. The musical will be a biopic, showcasing the highs and lows of the pop performer's career.
The new show, which has a book by Philip Norman, premieres on 1 March 2010 at Bromley's Churchill Theatre, before touring, until 3 July 2010, to 14 more venues including Woking, Wolverhampton, Bristol, Liverpool, Edinburgh, Sunderland, Hull, Blackpool, Manchester, Cardiff, Milton Keynes, Bradford and Southampton, with further dates to be announced.
Laughter in the Rain is produced by Bill Kenwright and Laurie Mansfield. For more information, visit http://www.ambassadortickets.com/The-Churchill
For more than four decades, Neil Sedaka's timeless standards have influenced the sound of popular music. With countless hit singles, platinum and gold records, Sedaka is recognized as one of rock and pop music's legendary pioneers, with songs that continue to stand the test of time. Starting in his high school years, Sedaka formed a vocal group, The Tokens, which recorded two hit singles. Soon to follow was Sedaka's introduction to Howard Greenfield, and together they began a successful songwriting partnership in the late 1950s, selling more than 25 million records during their 30-year collaboration.
In 1958, at the age of 18, Sedaka was catapulted into stardom after Connie Francis performed his song, "Stupid Cupid." Francis then sang the theme song Sedaka and Greenfield had written for the 1960 MGM spring break movie classic, Where The Boys Are, which would end up becoming her biggest hit. Sedaka parlayed these hits into a contract with RCA as a writer and performer, and began recording his own material. His chart-toppers included "The Diary," "Oh, Carol," "Stairway to Heaven," "Calendar Girl" and "Breaking Up Is Hard To Do." In his later years, Sedaka continued writing for other performers, including Tom Jones' album Puppet Man, The Fifth Dimension's album Workin' on a Groovy Thing and for The Monkees' album When Love Comes Knocking at Your Door.
Most recently, Sedaka returned to the classical roots of his early years. With original romantic lyrics written by Sedaka and set to the music of Beethoven, Chopin, Rachmaninoff, and Tchaikovsky, Classically Sedaka went on to earn a gold record in Europe. In October 2007, Neil was honored at Avery Fisher Hall with a tribute entitled Neil Sedaka: 50 years of Hits. The gala evening featured such notable performers as Elton John, The Captain and Tennille, Clay Aiken, Lou christie, Barry Manilow, Natalie Cole and Connie Francis.
