The irony is not lost on Rick Elice鈥攂efore writing the script for The Cher Show, now running at Broadway鈥檚 Neil Simon Theatre, he was not a Cher fanatic.
鈥淭here were many, many songs of hers that I knew once I started listening to them,鈥� says Elice, a Tony nominee for the book of Jersey Boys. 鈥淏ut I certainly didn鈥檛 come in saying, 鈥榊ou must hire me because I know everything about you.鈥� In fact, I said, 鈥榊ou probably shouldn鈥檛 hire me because I hardly know anything about you.鈥欌� As is usually the case, playing hard to get worked and Cher was won over by Elice鈥檚 honesty.
He, in turn, was won over by Cher鈥檚 kindness during the period after the death of his husband, Roger Rees. 鈥淪he said, 鈥業鈥檝e read everything that you鈥檝e been through. I鈥檝e been through my version of it. I understand, and I want you to get on a plane and come out here, and I think we should get to know each other. It鈥檚 time for you to rejoin the human race,鈥欌� Elice recalls. 鈥淎nd I said, 鈥楥her, you鈥檙e quoting Thornton Wilder to me?鈥� And she said, 鈥楴o. I鈥檓 quoting Hello, Dolly!.鈥欌� And it was the first time I鈥檇 laughed.鈥�
Thus began Elice鈥檚 time with Cherilyn Sarkisian La Piere Bono Allman. And, as it turned out, Elice鈥檚 casual acquaintance with Cher鈥檚 hits proved to be a boon. Without extensive knowledge, he was able to find new layers of meanings to the songs as his three Chers鈥擝abe, Lady, and Star鈥攇rapple with life, fame, and the entertainment business.
鈥淢erely presenting [a song] the way everyone expects to hear it wasn鈥檛 as interesting to me as finding a way to help the audience hear it as if for the first time,鈥� Elice says. 鈥淭hey talk about the first time an audience heard 鈥楾he Rain in Spain鈥� in My Fair Lady without knowing that she was going to get it right, and how exhilarating it was. Rather than having audiences say, 鈥極h well, here comes 鈥淏elieve鈥濃� it鈥檚, 鈥極h! Oh! I see, there are words to that song, and those words mean something.鈥欌�
In the creation of any musical, the songwriters usually end up cannibalizing the script. In this case, it was Elice eating up his own words armed with an iTunes playlist, scrolling through songs wondering, 鈥淥K, let鈥檚 find the song that could eat the scene I鈥檝e written most effectively.鈥� And with the help of director Jason Moore and music supervisor and orchestrator Daryl Waters, Elice was able to both surprise the audience and deliver on expectations. 鈥淚t really is a very, very extravagant onion we are peeling the layers of,鈥� he says.
The Cher Show currently plays Broadway鈥檚 Neil Simon Theatre (250 W 52nd Street between Broadway and Eighth Avenues) in an open-ended run.
