High Fidelity (musical)
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High Fidelity is a musical with a book by David Lindsay-Abaire, lyrics by Amanda Green, and music by Tom Kitt.
Based primarily on the Nick Hornby novel rather than the subsequent film version it inspired, the plot focuses on Rob Gordon, a Brooklyn record shop owner in his thirties obsessed with making top five lists for everything. When his girl friend Laura leaves him, he recalls his five most memorable breakups, and decides to contact each of his exes to determine why the relationships failed.
Kitt, a graduate of Columbia University, recognized the material's potential for musical adaptation when he first read the book, long before the film was released and became a cult hit. He approached Green (daughter of famed lyricist Adolph), with whom he had attended the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theater Workshop, with the idea, and she too saw the possibilities. Their score runs the gamut from pop music to rhythm and blues to romantic ballads.
In a move reminiscent of the days when Broadway musicals routinely tested the waters out-of-town first, the show had a one-month run at Boston's Colonial Theatre before heading to New York City. After sixteen previews, the Walter Bobbie-directed production opened on December 7, 2006 at the Imperial Theatre. The opening night cast included Will Chase (Lennon), Jenn Colella (Urban Cowboy), Christian Anderson (Avenue Q), and Jay Klaitz in his Broadway debut.
In his review, New York Times critic Ben Brantley said, "High Fidelity definitely deserves a place in my own catalog of Top 5 lists. That would be on the roster of All-Time Most Forgettable Musicals." [1]
