Savor The Many Successes of Cher

by Natasha Wolff | September 12, 2018 12:00 pm

Broadway is going to turn back time to the golden era of Cher when the Goddess of Pop’s 50-plus years of music is turned into a glittering, glamorous Broadway show with previews beginning at New York’s Neil Simon Theatre on November 1. The music icon is so much larger than life that to capture her essence, the role required three actresses—Tony Award nominee Stephanie J. Block (Falsettos, The Mystery of Edwin Drood), Teal Wicks (Wicked, Finding Neverland) and Micaela Diamond (who is making her Broadway debut).

A bio-musical, The Cher Show[1] follows her career from pre-pop star to Grammy-, Oscar- and Emmy-Award winner—and all the Bob Mackie gowns in between. “I first started talking to Cher about adapting her story for the stage 12 years ago,” says producer Flody Suarez. “There’s a lot to cover in telling her incredible story—her career spans six decades and is a roller-coaster ride of love and love loss, wild successes, devastating failures and breaking all the rules of fashion, music, television and movies. It was never about getting to Broadway fast, but rather doing it right. Assembling an amazing team and finding a way to do justice to this remarkable story was our mission. And here were are!”

Strutting the stage in fur, sequins and fringe in The Cher Show, directed by Jason Moore. (photo credit: Joan Marcus)

Rounding out the cast is Tony Award nominee Jarrod Spector (Beautiful, Jersey Boys) as Sonny Bono, Matthew Hydzik (West Side Story) as Gregg Allman, and Tony Award nominee Michael Berresse (Kiss Me, Kate; A Chorus Line) as Mackie as well as Michael Campayno (Wicked) and Tony Award nominee Emily Skinner. “When we started listening to her songs with a musical in mind, it became apparent very quickly that her biggest hits were those that had real, emotional, personal connections to what was going on in her life,” says Suarez. “Those songs, and her connection to them, spoke to audiences in a way that made her more than just a singer, and that has been a huge gift to us as far as storytelling goes. Our book writer, Rick Elice, has been able to use her songs differently than most artist-driven Broadway shows. In The Cher Show, the songs are used as book songs, which means they all serve to drive the story forward. They help us tell her story in a very real, emotional and accessible way. The hope is that the same connection people feel when they listen to her songs, and the connection to Cher, herself, will make this a thrilling night of theater.”

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