Cameron Crowe’s ‘Almost Famous’ Rocks Out on Broadway

Cameron Crowe poses outside the the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre in New York on Oct. 27, 2022. (AP)
Cameron Crowe poses outside the the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre in New York on Oct. 27, 2022. (AP)
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Cameron Crowe’s ‘Almost Famous’ Rocks Out on Broadway

Cameron Crowe poses outside the the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre in New York on Oct. 27, 2022. (AP)
Cameron Crowe poses outside the the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre in New York on Oct. 27, 2022. (AP)

Composer Tom Kitt got a compliment the other day that any songwriter would sing about.

A friend had seen his Broadway stage adaptation of Cameron Crowe's film “Almost Famous” and couldn't tell which songs Kitt had supplied and which ones were classics.

Mind you, those classics included songs by the likes of Elton John, Led Zeppelin, Cat Stevens, David Bowie, Deep Purple, Joni Mitchell and the Allman Brothers.

“I thought, ‘Well, then I’m doing my job,’” recalls Kitt, a Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winner. “The goal here was in some ways to make it all feel like one voice.”

Kitt has teamed up with Crowe to turn the filmmaker's very autobiographical coming-of-age story for a new audience in a new age. The show, now in previews, opens Nov. 3 at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre.

“It feels like it’s a companion piece to the movie,” says Jeremy Herrin, the musical's director. “It’s another iteration of that story in another form.”

“Almost Famous” centers on a smart and earnest 15-year-old in the early 1970s who manages to get assigned by Rolling Stone magazine to do a profile of the fictional midlevel rock band Stillwater.

“It’s about a young man discovering that he can express himself with integrity and that life is better for him and those around him when he does so. And that’s a powerful thing to be reminded of,” says Herrin.

Crowe, the writer-director who won an Oscar for the film's screenplay, was inspired by his own experiences growing up and says he wanted the musical to “capture that same feeling that the movie did.”

In many ways, a stage adaptation makes perfect sense: The film is about loving music and had a community constantly bursting into song — something musical theater is built on.

“That communal feeling and that hang that you have going to a concert is also the thing that I experience when I go to Broadway. I’m going to be in a room with a bunch of people, having a shared experience, with storytelling and live music happening. So I think that there’s a real crossover,” says Lia Vollack, lead producer.

The film starred Billy Crudup as Stillwater's lead guitarist, Frances McDormand as the young man’s mother and Kate Hudson as Penny Lane, the band’s chief groupie or, as she prefers to think of herself, its muse.

“At the heart of it, it's a story that many people can relate to, which is finding your own family,” says Vollack. “You have your family that you’re with, who you love and who are a part of you, but also finding community outside of that.”

Kitt supplied 17 original songs, did the orchestrations and arrangements, and collaborated with book writer Crowe on lyrics. He was already a fan of the filmmaker's “Fast Times at Ridgemont High,” “Say Anything,” “Jerry Maguire” and “Vanilla Sky.”

“I love to write about connection and catharsis and what are things that trouble us. What are things that we are in motion on, and where do we settle and find great resolution and hopefully walk out of a theater feeling inspired and excited to talk about what you just experienced?” he said. “That’s a Cameron Crowe film for me.”

The challenge for Kitt was to write new songs alongside such classic rock songs as “Simple Man” by Lynyrd Skynyrd, “20th Century Boy” by T. Rex and “Ramble On” by Zeppelin. The film's score won a Grammy.

“When I was a classical pianist — just starting to study in the ‘80s — it was the music of the ’70s that took me away from Mozart and into Bruce Springsteen and Elton John and Billy Joel at my piano,” Kitt says. “The assignment was to write original music in the style of music that I love.”

The creative team chose to stud the musical with songs that reveal the characters' feelings. So if the film has a close up, the musical gets a song in its place. Kitt often plumbed the film's script for the lyrics.

Take the song “The Night-Time Sky’s Got Nothing On You,” a quiet moment between the muse and the guitarist. Kitt begins the song with dialogue from the film virtually word for word: “The way you turn a hotel into a home/The way you pick up strays wherever you go.”

“That was the goal for me because Cameron is a poet, and he writes poetry about our everyday experience. So it’s a natural for that to become lyric,” says Kitt, who has worked on the musicals “Next to Normal," Green Day’s “American Idiot" and Alanis Morissette’s ”Jagged Little Pill.”

The creators initially considered using only preexisting songs, but that posed a challenge to the storytelling. They also considered all original music but would awkwardly have to plop in John's “Tiny Dancer” — which is sung in a pivotal scene. Kitt, who has worked with originals and written his own, was the answer they needed.

“Tom just made it all flow together in this gorgeous tapestry of this world and created a world with it and it is seamless,” says Vollack. "Tom is very comfortable swimming in both waters."

The creators also took the opportunity to alter some things, like going deeper into the characters of the mom and Penny Lane, or as Crowe says “putting a little more padding in the shoulders of these characters.” Both women get songs, including “The Wind” for Penny and “Elaine’s Lecture” for mom.



Think You Know 'Jaws'? Test Your Knowledge with this Trivia Ahead of the Movie's 50th Anniversary

This image released by Peacock shows Roy Scheider in a scene from "Jaws." (Peacock/Universal Pictures via AP)
This image released by Peacock shows Roy Scheider in a scene from "Jaws." (Peacock/Universal Pictures via AP)
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Think You Know 'Jaws'? Test Your Knowledge with this Trivia Ahead of the Movie's 50th Anniversary

This image released by Peacock shows Roy Scheider in a scene from "Jaws." (Peacock/Universal Pictures via AP)
This image released by Peacock shows Roy Scheider in a scene from "Jaws." (Peacock/Universal Pictures via AP)

Friday marks the 50th anniversary of “Jaws.” It remains one of the most beloved and rewatched movies of all time. But how good is your knowledge of the some of lore surrounding Steven Spielberg's 1975 masterpiece?

Read on and see how much you know about “Jaws.”

What was the nickname given to the shark? Spielberg named his mechanical shark “Bruce,” after his attorney, Bruce Ramer.

Where did the title come from? When author Peter Benchley’s 1974 book was going to print, he needed to choose a title. He has juggled various titles — “Leviathan Rising,” “Silent Fall” — before, at the last minute, choosing “Jaws.”

What did it mean? Benchley, himself, wasn’t sure, he told his editor, but it was short.

What's the origin of the iconic movie poster? The image of the rising shark came from the cover of the novel’s paperback edition, illustrated by Roger Kastel. For his painting, Kastel went to the American Museum of Natural History to photograph a great white shark from a diorama that was laying on an easel.

What was the inspiration for Amity? Though Spielberg shot “Jaws” on Martha’s Vineyard, off Cape Cod, it was the neighboring island, Nantucket, that inspired Benchley’s novel. He has spent time fishing there with his father. In the book, the fictional Amity is on the south shore of Long Island.

Who was first attached to direct “Jaws”? Dick Richards was initially in line to direct the film, but producer Richard D. Zanuck said he lost the job after, in a meeting, repeatedly referring to the shark as a whale.

How old was Spielberg when he began the project? 26.

Who sought but was turned down the role of Brody? Charlton Heston wanted to play the Amity Island police chief, but Spielberg instead cast Roy Scheider.
What’s the name of Quint’s boat? The Orca. Not coincidentally, two years after the massive success of “Jaws,” a 1977 ripoff about a killer whale was released titled “Orca.”

What led to the shark often malfunctioning? Salt water. The shark, built by special effects artist Bob Mattey, would get corroded by the salt water of the Atlantic Ocean, leaving it unusable for times – particularly early in the filmmaking. Spielberg pivoted and instead doesn’t show the shark until well into the film, an approach that ultimately led to a far more suspenseful film.

Spielberg once estimated that Bruce’s mechanical delays added $175 million to the movie’s box office.

How long into “Jaws” does the shark fully appear on screen? It’s not until one hour and 21 minutes into the movie that we really see the shark.

Was the movie’s most iconic line scripted? No, Schieder adlibbed “You’re gonna need a bigger boat.” Screenwriter Carl Gottlieb, though, has said the line had been percolating on set. The size of the barge carrying equipment and craft services was often slighted by the crew who felt producers weren’t spending enough. Gottlieb told The Hollywood Reporter in 2016: “It became a catchphrase for any time anything went wrong – if lunch was late or the swells were rocking the camera, someone would say, ‘You’re gonna need a bigger boat.’”

What disaster was Quint a survivor of? The sinking of the USS Indianapolis, the US Navy cruiser torpedoed by a Japanese submarine during World War II.

Quint’s lengthy and memorably speech in the film wasn’t in the novel but was, according to Spielberg, penned by the uncredited screenwriter John Milius.

Spielberg wanted a backstory to why Quint hated sharks so much. Though debate has continued over the years over who wrote the monologue, everyone has agreed Shaw synthesized it, and deserves most of the credit for the scene’s power.

Does Spielberg appear in “Jaws?” The director isn’t seen in the film but his voice is heard. During the finale of the film when Quint is readying the harpoon, it’s Spielberg’s voice on the radio. He says: “This is Amity point light-station to Orca. Orca, come in.” Spielberg shows up in a couple other ways, too. A clarinetist in high school, he plays briefly on Williams’ score. And Brody’s dogs were Spielberg’s cocker spaniels, Elmer and Zalman. (For his part, Benchley makes a cameo as a TV reporter during the July 4th beach scene.)

How far over schedule did “Jaws” run? The production was scheduled for 55 days but took 159 days to complete. The budget also nearly tripled, to $9 million, plus $3 million more in post-production. Though “Jaws” become the prototype summer movie, it was originally expected to open around Christmastime the year before.

What was “Jaws” rated? Though it caused some controversy, the Motion Picture Association of America gave “Jaws” a “PG” rating. At the time, there was no PG-13 rating. (That only began in 1984, with “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom,” after a handful of other Spielberg productions, including “Raiders of the Lost Ark” and “Gremlins” led to the new category.) Jack Valenti, then-president of the MPAA, defended the rating by arguing that “‘Jaws’ involved nature’s violence, rather than man’s violence against man,” Valenti said. “This is the same kind of violence as in ‘Hansel and Gretel.’ Children might imitate other kinds of violence, but not the kind seen in ‘Jaws.’”

The movie’s poster carried the warning: “MAY BE TOO INTENSE FOR YOUNGER CHILDREN.”

What did “Jaws” lose best picture to at the Academy Awards? “Jaws” was nominated for four Oscars and won three: best sound, best editing and best score for John Williams. The competition for best picture, though, was fierce.

The nominees, alongside “Jaws,” where “Dog Day Afternoon,” “Barry Lyndon,” “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” and “Nashville.” The winner was “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.”