Andrew Jackson is back, ‘Bloody’ and a rock star

By

October 21, 2010

The age of Jackson has arrived on Broadway. Andrew Jackson, America’s seventh president, is going for a new demographic as a song-and-dance man. “Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson” transferred uptown following a hit Off-Broadway run at the Public Theater this spring. The clever and irreverent musical sets the political machinations of early 19th century America to an emo-rock score, with Benjamin Walker portraying Jackson as a presidential rock star.

Jackson is the latest historical figure that director and writer Alex Timbers has brought to life as the artistic director of Les Freres Corbusier. Past resurrections including Warren Harding, J. Edgar Hoover, Robert Moses and L. Ron Hubbard. His next credit will be as director of “The Pee-Wee Herman Show,” soon to arrive on Broadway.

Jackson biographer and Need to Know host Jon Meacham spoke with Timbers about his vision for the show and creative process.

Related: A political song and dance

Last modified: October 21, 2010 at 4:52 pm
Tags: , , , , , , ,
 
SUGGESTED STORIES
  • Fast and too furious?
    Can accuracy and the demand for instant information coexist in the media?
  • thumb
      Steinbeck's Salinas Valley
    John Steinbeck's hometown came to worldwide notice through the Grapes of Wrath. Not all city fathers were pleased by the portrait. Explore what has changed and what remains the same in Salinas.
  • John Steinbeck's The Harvest Gypsies
    Thus, in California we find a curious attitude toward a group that makes our agriculture successful. The migrants are needed, and they are hated.

Comments

  • Proud Yalie

    There’s a Yalie right there!

  • http://www.gotchamediablog.com/ mjwilstein

    “Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson” meets the Tea Party:
    http://bit.ly/aGsxjp

  • 55lyn

    The commentator mentioned that this was the first production with the president as a rock star. There was another, the 1968 movie, “Wild in the Streets” starring Christopher Jones and Richard Pryor. THe movie theme song was “the shape of things to come.”