If you were inspired and touched by the 2004 biopic based on Ray Charles’ life, get ready for more Ray this fall on Broadway. A new musical based on the famous singer’s life is coming to the Great White Way this November. Stuart Benjamin, who co-produced Ray and worked with Charles for 15 years, confirmed this past week that Unchain My Heart, The Ray Charles Musical, a new show about Charles, will go into previews on October 8.
The story of the musical will be framed through Charles’ final live recording session, during which memories from his past will “pour out and mix with his best-known hits that will be featured in the show.” These hits will include “Georgia on My Mind,” “Hit the Road, Jack,” and the title tune, “Unchain My Heart.” Suzan-Lori Parks, who won a Pulitzer prize for Topdog/Underdog, penned the book for the musical.
According to Variety, the idea for the stage show first began after the movie based on Charles’ life won two Oscars in 2004; however, the musical will cover more ground about the artist than the movie version, and in a more theatrical way. The show has been in development at the Pasadena Playhouse under the title Ray Charles Live!
Sheldon Epps will direct the Broadway show, but beyond that, not much information has been released about the Ray Charles bio-musical. The cast from the Pasadena production won’t be making the move to Broadway; its star, Brandon Victor Dixon, is currently starring in a different off-Broadway production. What media outlets do know is that Unchain My Heart hopes to tap into the baby boomer audiences who flocked to see Jersey Boys, the runaway hit show about Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons. The Ray Charles musical officially hits the Great White Way on November 7.
Photo by Victor Diaz Lamich via Wikimedia Commons.