Jimmy Fallon brings his role in “Almost Famous” to Broadway

Jimmy Fallon brings his role in “Almost Famous” to Broadway.
Cameron Crowe – the director of the 2000 music journalism film starring Kate Hudson, Patrick Fugit, Billy Crudup, Frances McDormand and Jason Lee – invited the host of “The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon” to reprise his role as Stillwater’s band manager Dennie Hope during his 2019 appearance on the NBC talk show, and now it’s been confirmed that the host will take on the stage job.
The 65-year-old director told Deadline: “In the spirit of the musical and the cast being our ‘band,’ we love the idea of ​​our favorites and future favorites ‘jamming’ together. It all started with Jimmy – as a link between the two (film and musical) casts.”
During a conversation with the director of “I Think I’m Standing in the Woods” on his show on Tuesday (02.11.22), 48-year-old Jimmy told the audience: “My first major film role ever was in ‘Almost Famous.’ No big deal.”
Cameron gave insight into how the film – which follows teenage music journalist Billy Miller as he attempts to profile an up-and-coming band for Rolling Stone magazine in the ’70s – came to the Great White Way as it generated the most “fan conversation” of all his projects.
He said: “My friend Lia Vollack is a huge music fan and she’s become a famous Broadway producer. And she said to me, ‘You know, I can make you fun. And ‘Almost Famous’ is, I think, the one thing I’ve been involved in that’s been talked about the most by fans, and people always wanted to talk about the feeling that the movie gave them.’ And I thought, ‘You know, if we can create that feeling on a live stage, it’s almost like the 1973 world that the movie is based on.'”
During their discussion about the musical – which premieres at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre on Thursday (03.11.22) after a production by Cameron and Tom Kitt – the “Jerry Maguire” director revealed that he had reworked Jimmy’s role to make it “worthy” of the former “Saturday Night Live” star.
Cameron said, “I rewrote the scene for an advanced Jimmy Fever. I really wanted to get a scene worthy of you.”