New Bryan/DiPietro Musical

Playbill has an article this morning about Dave and Joe writing their next musical: Chasing the Song.


Memphis writers Joe DiPietro and David Bryan are at work on their next musical project, which will be an original show exploring the changing sound of the music charts in the early 1960s. DiPietro is also working on an Old Testament-inspired musical.

The duo, who also penned The Toxic Avenger, are in the midst of writing the musical under the working title Chasing the Song, which is "about songwriters in the early 1960s at the time period prior to the Beatles emerging and changing everything," DiPietro told Playbill.com. Lyricist-librettist DiPietro said he and composer Bryan are crafting the piece as a Broadway musical that would accommodate 15-20 cast members.

Chasing the Song is set against the backdrop of the Brill Building, the iconic Manhattan building that has served as a headquarters for music publishers, labels and agencies since the big band era. The phrase "The Brill Building Sound" was coined in response to the number of hits that came out of the location, including songs by Lieber and Stoller, Carole King, Burt Bacharach and Hal David, Connie Francis, Bobbie Darin and Neil Sedaka.

"In 1964, the Beatles had the top five singles in the country, which had never happened before. It changed the entire business," DiPietro said. "The people in the Brill Building were creating the pop music of the day, and suddenly, like anything in the entertainment business, they had to adapt or die. People wanted British and wanted bands to write their own songs."


Having seen (and loved) both The Toxic Avenger and Memphis, I'm very excited for this collaboration.

~ Hath