Posted on November 1, 2011 at 6:06 pm

Patrick Healy’s article here.

Investors Check Out ‘Honeymoon In Vegas’ Workshop
November 1, 2011, 12:50 PM, New York Times

A long-gestating musical adaptation of the 1992 movie “Honeymoon in Vegas,” which is perhaps best remembered for its skydiving team of Flying Elvises, was staged in a private workshop last week for theater investors with an eye toward a future production in New York or regionally, according to one of its producers.

The film starred Nicolas Cage and Sarah Jessica Parker as a couple whose wedding plans in Las Vegas go awry at the hands of a lovesick gambler played by James Caan. Their roles in the workshop were played by T.R. Knight (formerly of “Grey’s Anatomy”), Mary Faber (the current Broadway revival of “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying”) and Tony Danza (“Who’s the Boss,” a replacement Max Bialystock in “The Producers” on Broadway).

The theater producers Dena Hammerstein (the widow of James Hammerstein, a son of Oscar Hammerstein II) and Roy Gabay held the workshop after recently acquiring the rights to the musical, which has music and lyrics by Jason Robert Brown (a Tony Award winner for the score of “Parade”) and a book by Andrew Bergman, who wrote and directed the movie. An earlier team of producers aimed the work at Broadway in 2007, when it had a reading that included Norbert Leo Butz and Terrence Mann, but that show never came together.

Mr. Gabay said in an interview on Tuesday that there were no immediate plans for a production but that he and Ms. Hammerstein were considering options ranging from an out-of-town run at a nonprofit theater to a commercial run on Broadway. Gary Griffin (“The Color Purple”) directed the workshop.

“The show is in good shape, and we’re really happy with the cast that we have, so now we’re going to try to figure out next steps,” Mr. Gabay said. “We received a really good response from our audience at the workshop, so we’re encouraged.” Among those invited to attend was the Broadway producer Barry Weissler, who said in a separate interview that the musical was “very well crafted” with an “enjoyable score.”

As for the comic talents of the Flying Elvises – a group of Elvis impersonators who take Mr. Knight’s character for a dive – Mr. Gabay said that they do indeed take to the air in the musical, though there was no time or money for aerial effects in the stripped-down workshop.

“We sort of hoped the audience would imagine what the flying would look like,” Mr. Gabay said, “but we kept it to some parachutes and choreography.”