Taylor’s songs will be featured in \u201cFire & Rain,\u201d a new musical in development with a story by playwright and actor Tracy Letts and direction by Tony Award winner David Cromer.<\/b>
\nAlicia Keys, Dolly Parton and Neil Diamond \u2014 step aside. The next musical icon to turn their songs into a stage musical will be James Taylor.
Taylor\u2019s songs will fuel \u201cFire & Rain,\u201d a musical announced Monday, in development with a story by playwright and actor and Steppenwolf Theatre ensemble member Tracy Letts and direction by Tony Award winner and Skokie native David Cromer.
\u201cFire and Rain\u201d is one of Taylor\u2019s most iconic songs, released in 1970 on his second album, \u201cSweet Baby James.\u201d It reached No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Other hits include \u201cYou\u2019ve Got a Friend\u201d and \u201cHow Sweet It Is.\u201d
No timeline was revealed on when \u201cFire & Rain\u201d will be first staged.
Taylor has won six Grammys and is a member of both the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Halls of Fame. He is the first artist to have a Billboard Top 10 album in each of the past six decades.
Letts won a Pulitzer Prize and a Tony Award for writing \u201cAugust: Osage County\u201d and his other plays include \u201cBug,\u201d \u201cKiller Joe,\u201d \u201cSuperior Donuts\u201d and \u201cThe Minutes.\u201d Cromer has directed two of Letts\u2019 works \u2014 \u201cBug\u201d and \u201cMan from Nebraska,\u2019 and is the recipient of numerous Jeff Awards (Chicago\u2019s equivalent of the Tonys) including for \u201cAngels in America\u201d Parts I and II in 1998.
Taylor joins a growing list of musical artists who have turned to the stage.
Parton is writing new songs to go along with some of her past hits and co-writing a stage story inspired by her life for a stage musical that she hopes to land on Broadway in 2026. Diamond, Keys, Michael Jackson, Carole King and Gloria and Emilio Estefan all got biographical musicals on Broadway.
Taylor will join such pop and rock luminaries as Elton John, Cyndi Lauper, The Go-Gos, Sting, Alanis Morissette, Dave Stewart, Edie Brickell, Trey Anastasio, David Byrne and Fatboy Slim and Bono and The Edge with Broadway scores.<\/p>\n