Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo Set Fall Premiere for ‘Invincible’ Musical in L.A. (EXCLUSIVE) – Variety

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By Chris Willman
Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic
Incoming Rock and Roll Hall of Famers Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo are announcing an L.A.-area November world premiere for “Invincible — The Musical,” a long-in-the-works stage production that will incorporate a mixture of old and new songs. The show will launch Nov. 22 in Beverly Hills at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Beverly Hills.
“We are so excited that tickets are now on sale for the fully realized production of ‘Invincible —The Musical,’” the pair told Variety. “We’ve loved spending the last five years writing and collaborating with an amazing team and are thrilled to finally bring it to the stage. The Wallis’ Bram Goldsmith Theater is the perfect place to premiere it. It’s been a joyous journey, and one we look forward to having you join us on.”

Casting will be announced later in the year for the show, which has a book written by Bradley Bredeweg, the creator of the TV series “The Fosters” and “Good Trouble.” The debut production in Beverly Hills will be directed by Tiffany Nichole Greene (resident director of “Hamilton”), and will feature music direction and arrangements by Jesse Vargas (“Love Actually Live”) and orchestrations and arrangements by Giraldo. The show is being presented by Jamie Cesa, Cody Lassen and Bel Chiasso Entertainment.

The production will follow shortly on the heels of Benatar and Giraldo being inducted into the Hall of Fame Nov. 5, an event that is also being held in Los Angeles this year.
Tickets go on sale today are are priced at $39-125, with previews set at $29-105. They are available as single tickets as well as part of the Wallis’ 2022-2023 subscription season here.
The story for “Invincible” — titled after one of Benatar’s hits — is described as a reimagining of “Romeo and Juliet” that is “set in the modern, war-torn metropolis of Verona, where the newly elected Chancellor Paris vows to destroy the progressive resistance and return the city to its traditional roots. The star-crossed lovers’ story, exploring how love and equality battle for survival in times of great transformation, envisions peace in a divided world.”
Shows at the Wallis will run Nov. 22 through Dec. 17, on Tuesdays through Saturdays at 7:30 p.m., with Saturday matinees at 2 p.m., and shows on Sunday at 2 and 7. The preview period runs Nov. 22-29.
In November of last year, a showcase version of the musical was presented over three nights at the Bourbon Room in Hollywood.
The title song of “Invincible” was a top 10 hit for Benatar in 1985 and led off her sixth album, “Seven the Hard Way.” It has some history in other media: Moviegoers with long memories may recall it as the theme song for a flop movie, “The Legend of Billie Jean”; decades later it showed up in the ’80s-set 2017 season finale of “Glow.”
Benatar and Giraldo are currently on a U.S. tour that wraps with an appearance at the iHeartRadio Festival in Las Vegas. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony will take place at the Microsoft Theatre on Nov. 5.

 
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