The Rascals Reunite for Broadway By Huge Fan Steven Van Zandt

The Rascals is to be reunited by one leading musician Steven Van Zandt.

The guitarist for the E Street Band and star of "The Sopranos," Van Zandt loved the band since seeing them at his first concert in 1965 along with his New Jersey friend and future rock star Bruce Springsteen.

"I'll never forget it. It was the most exciting night ever," said Van Zandt. "They were phenomenal live, really quite different than anybody else. And very, very influential to this day."

After forty-eight years, Van Zandt has found a way to repay The Rascals by taking the original four-man band to their biggest and most unlikely stage - on Broadway.

The reunited band will play 15 performances beginning next month (performances start April 15), a show combining live performance, video reenactments, archival concert and news footage, op-art backdrops and psychedelic lighting. Van Zandt calls it a "bio concert" adding "this could be a new form and a new industry."

"The Rascals: Once Upon a Dream" will begin April 15 at the Richard Rodgers Theatre and will last only 15 performances, ending May 5. The show made its debut in late 2012 in Port Chester, N.Y.

"The Rascals created music that inspired a generation - and that feeling has lived on through their original fans and the legions of new fans that have discovered their music over the years," Van Zandt said in a statement.

"The musical depth is astounding when you get into it," says Van Zandt, who runs his own record label and hosts a radio show. "The Rascals are something else. They're up there with the Beatles, and Stones and Byrds. That level of musicality. They have a real chemistry. It is like magic."

"How do I thank them? Well, reuniting them was not enough in the end," he says. "It was like, 'OK, that's a miracle.' But not miraculous enough for me."

Tags
world news
Join the Discussion

Latest Photo Gallery

Real Time Analytics