[wooclosmercob]

by Josh Grossberg
Aug 5, 2004, 10:45 AM PT


Mother, do you think they'll like the show?

Yes, Pink Floyd fans, Miramax and former Sony Music boss Tommy Mottola are getting ready to build The Wall on Broadway.

The band's seminal rock opera about alienation, war, music and madness, already turned into a movie and a theatrical concert experience, is being transformed for the boards.

"Great! Now I can write in some laughs, notable by their absence in the movie," said Pink Floyd mastermind Roger Waters, who's adapting his 1979 opus for the stage, writing the show's book and musical score.

"I am thrilled to be involved with bringing The Wall to Broadway and to give new generations the opportunity to see this legendary show," said Miramax co-chair Harvey Weinstein in a press release. "I am also delighted to be working with musical geniuses Tommy Mottola and Roger Waters, who are sure to make the music rock again."

Added Mottola: "There are few projects as timeless as The Wall. Even after two decades since its first release, The Wall continues to break through every generational, socioeconomic and political boundary."

The partners acquired the rights to The Wall from Waters, who originally created the double-album with an eye to turning it into a multimedia experience, including a movie and lavish stage production.

The Wall centers around a troubled rock star named Pink who descends into madness as he flashes back to momentous events of his youth, both during and after World War II, and eventually builds a wall of isolation around him.

Like the album, the musical will feature such classic Pink Floyd cuts as "Another Brick in the Wall," "Comfortably Numb," "Run Like Hell," "Mother" and "Hey You."

Since its debut in 1979, The Wall has sold more than 23 million copies and ranks as third best-selling album ever--a staple in every rock collection. Pink Floyd's prop-filled live renditions of Waters' gloomy epic, complete with a wall construced around the band as the show progressed, were must-see events.

In 1982, MGM tapped director Alan Parker to adapt the album to the big screen. Starring Bob Geldof and Bob Hoskins, Pink Floyd: The Wall, went on to become a cult classic and regular midnight movie staple.

A year later, Pink Floyd combusted following an acrimonious power struggle between Waters and the other band members over creative control.

After unsuccessfully suing his mates in the mid-80s for ownership of the Pink Floyd moniker, the bassist-singer launched a mediocre solo career, while the other three members led by guitarist-singer David Gilmour continued on as Pink Floyd, scoring a big hit with the 1987 album A Momentary Lapse of Reason.

Waters bounced back. To coincide with the fall of the Berlin Wall, he headlined a massive $8 million production of The Wall in Potzdamer Platz, Berlin that remains one of the largest concerts in rock history.

The Wall should be a nice fit along the Great White Way, especially with Broadway increasingly dominated by productions whose music has been mined from the pop landscape, shows such as Billy Joel's Movin' Out and ABBA's Mamma Mia!

Aside from the pending Pink Floyd production, there's We Will Rock You in the works. The show features 25 of Queen's greatest hits and is expected to open at Las Vegas' Paris Hotel is September. And, of course, the gold standard for rock-based musicals, the Who's Tommy, continues to be performed around the world. that's awesome news and i'm definitely gonna have to go see this. good thing i live in NY