It was probably only a matter of time before the high-tech side of dating - Google background checks and fake emergency cellphone calls - would find their way onto the Broadway stage. They will be part of the fabric of “First Date,†a new musical that will open at the Longacre Theater on Aug. 4, with previews starting on July 9.
The musical follows a mismatched couple - an investment banker and a fledgling artist - on a blind date, and was first staged in Seattle last year. Its book is by Austin Winsberg, who is best known as a producer and writer for television. His credits include “Gossip Girl,†“Jake in Progress†and “Glory Days,†but he has also directed productions at the Blank Theater Company’s Young Playwrights Festival in Los Angeles.
The music and lyrics are by Michael Weiner and Alan Zachary, a young composing partnership whose 2005 “Twice Charmed: An Original Twist on the Cinderella Story†was written for Disney Cruise Line, and whose latest work, a musical adaptation of the film “Secondhand Lions,†will have its premiere in Seattle in September.
The work is being staged by Junkyard Productions, the company that produced “Memphis,†the winner of the Tony Award for best mus! ical in 2010. Bill Berry will direct, and Josh Rhodes is the choreographer. Casting has not been announced.
