BUFFETT ON BROADWAY WITH ‘ESCAPE TO MARGARITAVILLE’
Jimmy hopes to eventually bring ‘Escape to Margaritaville’ to Palm Beach County.
Neither Jimmy Buffett nor Frank Marshall has a great deal of experience on Broadway.
Their expertise lies in different arenas.
Buffett, a part-time Palm Beacher, is the long-lived guru of the Parrothead clan — crafter of songs such as “Margaritaville,” “Come Monday,” “Volcano” and “Cheeseburger in Paradise” that transport fans to a fantasy world of party-time island living.
Marshall is the producer of blockbuster movies such as the Indiana Jones and Jason Bourne franchises, “Seabiscuit,” “Back to the Future” and “Jurassic World.”
Yet they’re partners in one of the most talked-about musicals on Broadway. “Escape to Margaritaville,” a show spun from Buffett’s hits, opened for previews Feb. 16, with an official opening set for March 15.
The cast album is already out on Buffett’s Mailboat Records label. Mike Ramos, another Palm Beacher, is the album’s executive producer.
Marshall and Buffett were introduced 38 years ago by Harrison Ford at a New Year’s Eve party in Aspen, Colorado.
“It’s a lot of fun being with him,” Marshall said. “He also has an incredible work ethic.”
There’s plenty of work involved with “Escape to Margaritaville,” which has been four years in the making.
“I always wanted to do this,” Buffett said. “My mother raised me on musical theater.”
Buffett is obviously a canny businessman, judging from his $550 million, as reported by Forbes in 2016.
“We had good people involved, so I felt comfortable,” he said. Those good people include not only Marshall, but also veteran Broadway producer Mindy Rich, both of whom are among the show’s lead producers.
Marshall said he got on board because of Buffett’s songs. “One thing about Jimmy is his songs aren’t just fluff. They tell stories. I’m a storyteller. The fact that we could take these stories and tell our own story around the music was a fascinating challenge.”
Marshall’s and Buffett’s Parrothead Productions was a producer for two earlier musicals, “Big Fish” in 2013 and “Doctor Zhivago” in 2015.
Marshall said he brought “Big Fish” to Buffett because it takes place in Alabama — and Buffett was raised in Mobile. “We both love musicals and music, and I thought it would be a fun venture.”
“Big Fish” and “Doctor Zhivago” were not big hits on Broadway.
The jury’s still out on “Escape to Margaritaville,” though the first
two nights of previews were packed. Buffett has been promoting the show indefatigably in outlets ranging from “CBS Sunday Morning” to a long profile in The New York Times.
The show is directed by Christopher Ashley, winner of the 2017 best director Tony Award for the musical “Come From Away” and artistic director of the La Jolla Playhouse in California, where “Escape to Margaritaville” originated in May. The show has tuned up for Broadway in Houston, New Orleans and Chicago.
Buffett has been handson throughout.
According to news accounts, he’s taken Paul Alexander Nolan, who plays the bar singer Tully, to the Green Turtle Inn in Islamorada so he could get a taste of performing for a rowdy crowd in the type of joints Buffett used to play.
He’s counseled ushers at the Marquis Theatre to shelve their notions of proper audience behavior for enthusiastic crowds who are likely to wear feathers and sing along.
But the first order of business was finding the right writers. Broadway experience wasn’t a top priority.
Television writers Greg Garcia (TBS’s “The Guest Book” and NBC’s “My Name is Earl”) and Mike O’Malley (Starz’s “Survivor’s Remorse”) “were raised with the music,” Buffett said. “It was the background music to their lives.”
Buffett selected the tunes that had to be included and they wrote the story around them. He has tweaked songs and lyrics to fit the characters and written three new ones for the show.
The main character “could be any bar singer in Islamorada doing my songs,” he said. But he admits to a familiarity with the plot.
“It’s about a bar singer and a type A female who goes on vacation in the Caribbean,” he said. “You can take it from there. I have seen that story before.”
He’s been getting some expert advice from Lin-Manuel Miranda, creator of the runaway hit musical “Hamilton,” who saw the show in Chicago.
“He has great eyes and ears,” Buffett said. “When he offered to look at it I certainly took him up on it.”
Investors, who include Buffett, have $15 million riding on the show, according to The Wall Street Journal .
Investing in a Broadway show is riskier than a movie, Marshall said, because it’s pinned to one theater and can’t be supported by a broad publicity campaign as a film can, and it’s resistant to tweaking, as any changes affect the whole show, not just a snippet.
But he and Buffett already are looking ahead. A national tour beginning in 2019 is in the works.
Will Palm Beach County be on the itinerary? “That would be the plan,” Buffett said.