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Odds & Ends: Morrissey, Carole King, Billie Joe Armstrong
A musical based on Carole King’s life and songs is coming to Broadway in spring 2014, Morrissey missed another show (yes, really), and Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong is working on another theatre production.
After helping adapt Green Day’s 2004 rock opera, American Idiot, into a stage musical, Billie Joe Armstrong is now writing songs for Yale Repertory Theatre’s production of “These Paper Bullets.”
According to the New York Times, the play gives Shakespeare’s “Much Ado About Nothing” a rock ‘n’ roll update by telling the story of a band from Liverpool “dealing with romance and the music industry in London.”
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iHeartRadio Music Festival, MGM Grand Garden Arena in, Las Vegas, Nev.
“These Paper Bullets,” adapted by Roling Jones and directed by Jackson Gay, will premier at the theatre in March 2014.
Meanwhile, catch Armstrong and the rest of Green Day playing SXSW tonight at Austin City Limits Live At Moody Theater.
Last month Morrissey wrote to fans about his recent health issues including a concussion, a bleeding ulcer, and Barrett’s esophagus, commenting that the silver lining was “there are now no known ailments left for me to try.”
Well, he was wrong. On Sunday fan site TrueToYou.net reported that the British singer had come down with a case of “double pneumonia” and was postponing his San Francisco show at the Regency Ballroom for May 1. His publicist confirmed the news to the BBC, which notes that Moz had canceled or postponed more than 20 gigs so far this year because of illness.
Photo: Owen Sweeney / OwenSweeneyPhoto.com
House Of Blues, Atlantic City, N.J.
You can add another gig to the tally. Pitchfork points out that Rolling Stone’s Mexican edition reported that Morrissey called off last night’s appearance at Mexico City’s Vive Latino festival.
Earlier this week TrueToYou posted a note from Mexico that Morrissey penned in tribute to a fan who recently died.
Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Douglas has written the story for “Beautiful: The Carole King Musical,” which is planning a pre-Broadway engagement this fall and a spot on the Great White Way in spring 2014.
According to USA Today, the musical will tell the story of “a Brooklyn girl with passion and chutzpah” who “fought her way into the record business as a teenager.”
You can expect plenty of King’s hits that brought her (and fellow musicians like James Taylor and Aretha Franklin) fame such as “You’ve Got a Friend,” “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman,” “It’s Too Late,” “Will You Love Me Tomorrow,” and “Take Good Care Of My Baby.”