Lewis bares his ‘Heart’ despite his health woes
NEW YORK – “The Heart of Rock and Roll” doesn’t aim to be high art.
“It might not change your life, but it will change your evening,” quips Huey Lewis, whose contagious catalog soundtracks the new Broadway musical, which is now playing at the James Earl Jones Theatre.
Featuring more than two dozen songs by Huey Lewis and the News, “The Heart of Rock and Roll” tells an enchantingly offbeat story about a former rocker named Bobby (Corey Cott) who’s trying to climb the corporate ladder at a mom-and-pop cardboard box factory in Milwaukee, run by the warmhearted Mr. Stone (John Dossett) and his unconfident daughter Cassandra (McKenzie Kurtz). When the company heads to a three-day packing supplies conference in Chicago, Bobby seizes the opportunity to try and procure a lucrative Swedish furniture client – and winds up winning Cassandra’s heart along the way.
The feel-good show inventively weaves in all of Lewis’ best-known hits: “Hip to Be Square,” for instance, becomes a sprightly assembly line anthem, as dancers glide across the stage on cardboard boxes. “Stuck With You,” too, gets a darkly comical twist, as Cassandra imagines a suburban housewife nightmare with a smarmy old flame (Billy Harrigan Tighe). The musical also resurrects some deep cuts to emotional and hilarious effect.
“‘The Only One’ is a song I wrote 100 years ago for a record that nobody bought, and it’s become a really great moment in the show. I never saw that coming,” Lewis says. “And the choreography in ‘Give Me the Keys’ is fantastic. That’s another song that nobody’s ever heard of. It’s interesting to see songs that were minor in our career become so important to the musical.”
Then, of course, there’s the 1985 chart-topper “The Power of Love,” which is used a couple times throughout the show. It encapsulates a major theme of the musical, as Bobby is faced with the choice between rejoining his old band or working alongside Cassandra.
“It sounds like a cliché, but love is really what the show’s about,” Lewis says. The creative team “agonized over that for a long time. We were told our hero had to get everything, but in life, that doesn’t happen all the time. It’s much more of a real story that I hope people will relate to – not everybody can be a rock star.”
‘The Heart of Rock and Roll’ was a ‘salvation’ for Lewis
“The Heart of Rock and Roll” has taken on poignant new meaning for Lewis, 73. The musical premiered in San Diego in September 2018, just months after Lewis was diagnosed with Ménière’s disease, an inner ear disorder that causes vertigo, tinnitus and hearing loss. As a result, he can no longer perform live.
“The show’s been very creative for me and a real salvation with my hearing,” Lewis says. “When I lost my hearing, it was devastating for me. I had a very bad six months; I mostly just stayed in bed. And I was worried,
frankly. I did all kinds of protocol: allorganic diet, cranial massage, acupuncture, different medicines, and nothing worked. Fortunately, I have two great kids and my son would not let me keep feeling sorry for myself. He said, ‘Come on, Pops, we’ve got to get going.’ So the musical has really helped me.”
In a quiet office, Lewis can manage fine in one-on-one, face-to-face conversations thanks to his hearing aids. But his chances of getting back in the recording studio are slim: “I can hear pitch to myself, but I can’t sing to anything,” he explains. “If you hit a chord for me, it just sounds like (clanging).”
And although he’s seen the show roughly 35 times now, he’s not able to make out much of what’s happening onstage. “I can’t hear the songs at all, so I just watch audience reactions to see who’s laughing and who’s applauding and where.”
“I’m probably headed for a cochlear implant,” Lewis says. “But I have other medical problems I need to sort out first because I’m no spring chicken.”
Behind the scenes, “it’s kept me from breathing down our musical director’s throat,” Lewis jokes. “He was probably happy that I lost my hearing!”
Lewis has gotten ‘lots of support’ from Michael J. Fox
Along with “The Heart of Rock and Roll,” Lewis has a Broadway footprint in “Back to the Future,” adapted from the 1985 film. He wrote “The Power of Love” and “Back in Time” for the film, and both are in the two musicals.
Michael J. Fox, who starred in the “Back to the Future” movies, has been a source of encouragement to Lewis. Fox, 62, has lived with Parkinson’s disease for more than 30 years. Lewis says he’s spoken with the actor about their respective health struggles.
“That in itself is a chore, because he speaks a little funny with his affliction and I can’t hear, so we’re really a pair,” Lewis says with grin.
Fox has offered “lots of support,” Lewis continues. “He is very funny and warm and genuine – just a great, great guy.”