Pop Group Duran Duran to Play Broadway
By Andrew Gans
28 Sep 2007
The Grammy-winning British pop group Duran Duran — whose hit singles include "Planet Earth," "Save a Prayer" and "Ordinary World" — will play a two-week engagement at Broadway's Ethel Barrymore Theatre in November.
Simon LeBon, Nick Rhodes, John Taylor and Roger Taylor will play the Barrymore Nov. 1-12. The limited run will celebrate the debut of the group's upcoming CD, "Red Carpet Massacre," which will be released by Epic Records Nov. 13.
The Broadway engagement will feature hits from Duran Duran's past 29 years as well as all the tunes on the new recording.
About the group's upcoming Broadway bow, singer Simon LeBon said in a statement, "We have made an album that we are all really proud of and we wanted to present it in a very unique way. Staging a run on Broadway is something that we've often talked about over the years – but the time has never seemed right until now. We started work on 'Red Carpet Massacre' in New York – in September of last year – so it feels fitting to be launching it here – just down the road from the studio where we did those first sessions with Justin Timberlake and Timbaland."
Bass player John Taylor added, "We agreed we would try to open on Broadway while we were still making the record and have been planning how we're going to stage it for the past few months. Nick and I have been particularly engaged in this and are really excited about the production. Broadway just feels like the perfect place to launch this album."
"The theatre we have found is really beautiful inside, which in itself will make this special," stated keyboard player Nick Rhodes. "I don't believe there is another artist out there who has done a two week run on Broadway – and knowing that our fans travel to see our shows from all over the world we wanted to start out with something really spectacular."
Courtesy Playbill