'Ray' to play in Pasadena
Musical set for month-long run this winter
By PHIL GALLO

The Ray Charles tuner from the producers of the biopic "Ray" will receive its world premiere at the Pasadena Playhouse in November.

"Ray Charles Live! -- A New Musical," featuring Charles' music and a book by Suzan-Lori Parks (Daily Variety, Aug. 8, 2005), will be directed by Playhouse a.d. Sheldon Epps.

Tuner, which opens Nov. 9 and runs through Dec. 9, is presented by special arrangement with producing partners Stuart Benjamin, Howard and Karen Baldwin and Steve Markoff, along with Ray Charles' longtime manager Joe Adams. That team had production roles in the Universal pic that won Jamie Foxx an Oscar.

Musical is set in a concert hall where Charles is recording his final live album. He reviews his life, and characters from his past appear onstage. There is a central Charles figure, plus an actor portraying Charles as a young boy and another playing him in his late teens and early 20s.

"Basically, many people have been told his life story and the facts about his life through the film," Epps told Daily Variety. "I keep emphasizing that this experience is to get to know the man in a deeper way. Like a great concert or cabaret show, music is used to reveal the deeper person and opposed to the facts. This is much more about what he feels about his life than the facts of his life," Epps added.

"We didn't want to lift the movie and put it on a stage," said Benjamin, who met with Charles in the late 1980s after "La Bamba," which he exec produced, attracted a number of musical biopic projects. "And we don't shy away from things, the womanizing, the drug use. But the play focuses more on the music. It's more personal

." Whereas the film ended in 1965, when Charles was 35 years old, the musical will cover his entire life. Charles died June 10, 2004, at the age of 73.

Tuner will have a cast of 20 and band of between eight and 12 musicians. Casting will begin in the summer.About 30 songs from Charles' career will be performed in the piece. When producers had to seek rights for the music, they were returning to many of the same publishers that had OK'd songs for the movie, making that process rather easy, Benjamin noted.

Epps said the budget is still being determined, but it is "formidable."

"Ray" producers Benjamin and the Baldwins secured the theatrical rights to Brother Ray's story about two years ago from Charles' estate, which Adams oversees. Team is focused on the Pasadena production and has yet to consider a second stop or a Broadway mounting.

Benjamin praised Epps' enthusiasm for the show as a key reason for starting in Pasadena. "He has a clear vision for the show -- and all the pieces fit together," he said.

Taylor Hackford, who directed "Ray," told Daily Variety's Army Archerd that Benjamin had approached him to direct the tuner, but Hackford felt 15 years with the film project was enough.

The creative team on "Ray Charles Live!" includes choreographer Ken Roberson, set designer Riccardo Hernandez, costume designer Paul Tazewell, lighting designer Donald Holder and orchestrator Harold Wheeler.