Russel Simmons to Launch Hip-Hop Musical 'The Scenario' on Broadway
Russel Simmons, 57, the business magnate who co-founded the hip-hop music label Def Jam and created the clothing fashion lines Phat Farm, Argyleculture, and American Classics, announced that he is putting together a stage play called The Scenario, a musical that will tell the story of the hip-hop culture spanning two decades from the "golden age" of the mid-'80s to mid-'90s to the millennium era.
In an interview with the Rolling Stone, Simmons explained: "It'll be half-concert, half-storytelling. Something like this deserves a little bit of a love story and a little bit of 'Fight the Power.' It's not easy to write, but it's easy to conceive of. It's all the old people going to the Broadway theatre and seeing rebellious youth culture. Two generations later, rap still has that rebelliousness; it hasn't changed. At the same time, though, it's successful pop culture. We've never had an American cultural phenomenon like this that has spanned so many generations."
Simmons hired hip-hop historian-author Dan Charnas to write the script for The Scenario which he said he is planning to debut in late 2016 with a mix of actual rap songs and musicalized versions of classic tracks. He also said he got the idea from watching Rock of Ages. "I saw it and said, 'What the f-k? This is exactly what I need to do.' It was the most obvious thing in the world to me. I was inspired when I saw it. I must be getting old because what I'm doing now is right squarely in the middle of Broadway, which is squarely in the middle of America. It's overdue....My ex-wife said, 'Why don't we just call it Rap of Ages?' I was like, 'Can we be more original?'"
The Scenario will be produced through Simmon' Los Angeles-based company, DefPictures, in collaboration with Tony Award-winning Rock of Ages producer Scott Prisand. Simmons in his announcement of the project said: "Hip hop's explosion was fueled by a generation with an incredible hunger to discover new ways of expression. These artists were always breaking the mold with new rhythms and new ideas, while at the same time telling so many important and timeless stories that over the decades have continued to remain just as relevant. This is why the music continues to strike a chord with fans worldwide. It felt like such a natural fit to weave the best of these sounds and stories into an energetic and thrilling musical that would transport audiences through one of the most innovative artistic movements of our time."