TRANS-SIBERIAN ORCHESTRA Founder Paul O'Neill Says They Are "Re-Recording Gutter Ballet In Its Original Broadway Format"
March 4, 2010, 14 years ago
Gary Graff from Billboard.com is reporting:
As it prepares to mount its first-ever non-holiday tour - the long-awaited recital of Beethoven's Last Night - TRANS-SIBERIAN ORCHESTRA is also setting its sights on the Great White Way.
"Broadway beckons," Paul O'Neill, the founder and chief creative force behind the classical rock troupe best known for its trilogy of Christmas concept albums and pyrotechic-laden tours, tells Billboard.com. "We're a bit nervous about Broadway 'cause we've never done it before, but it's time. Trans-Siberian Orchestra will keep going and keep recording and continue as a progressive rock band, but within the near future we'd like to have the first theatrical show up and running."That will likely be Gutter Ballet, a piece O'Neill began as a 1989 album for the group SAVATAGE and was still an active interest when he formed TSO in 1996. O'Neill and company are currently "re-recording Gutter Ballet in its original Broadway format," though there's no firm timetable on when it might go into full production.
Meanwhile, O'Neill also envisions turning "Beethoven's Last Stand" into a Broadway piece as well but says that "it's important to tour it as a rock band first. If it's a Trans Siberian Orchestra rock opera we have to tour it first just like Pete Townshend toured 'Tommy' before he allowed it to be a movie or go to BRoadway. The Who blazed a trail, and I think that trail is correct. That's why we pretty much follow the road they blazed through the jungle."
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