Mozart rock musical heading to Broadway and West End?

23 October 2012, 10:17

"Mozart, L'Opera Rock", the French rock musical based on the life and music of Mozart, has been acquired for performance in other territories.

A rock musical based on the life and music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart has been licensed to all major territories after  phenomenally successful run in France. "Mozart, L'Opera Rock", which has taken over $100m during its three-year run in France, could be seen in the US, Japan, South Korea, Canada, the UK, Australia and New Zealand.

The lavish production features over 400 costumes and the soundtrack has sold over 750,000 copies so far. It features both music composed by Mozart and a collection of pop songs. Theatre producers Gregory Young and Atanas Ilitch have bought the rights to the show for English-language territories.

Young told Variety: "When the French write musicals, a lot of their songs are written like pop singles placed contiguous to each other, while on Broadway, it's necessary to have a storyline and a semblance of relationship."

The marketing of the musical has been notable in that several singles were released from the soundtrack before the show opened in theatres, maximising the public's interest in the production. At present it is not known whether any overseas versions will follow the same model.

'Tatoue-Moi', one of the songs from the show performed Mikelangelo Loconte, topped the singles chart in France in 2009.