The Rascals Rock Group Heading To Broadway?

Felix Cavaliere has announced that "Once Upon a Dream", the Rascals' reunion concert and multimedia show produced and directed by Steven Van Zandt, is Broadway bound.

He said this from the stage at a solo concert on February 9 at the Fairfield Community Arts Centers' theater in Ohio, near Cincinnati. "I'm happy to announce it's going to be on Broadway. We're going there -- yeah!" he said. "And then I hope it will come around the U.S. and you can come see the old guys still rock 'n' rollin.'" Cavaliere is 70, according to his website.

"Once Upon a Dream" was mounted for a short December run -- to ecstatic reviews -- at the Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, N.Y. In addition to reuniting the four original Rascals -- one of the biggest rock bands to come out of New York/New Jersey in the 1960s -- for their first public concerts in some 40 years, Van Zandt 's "Once Upon a Dream" combined the appearance with filmed vignettes with members, filmed reenactments of their stories (with younger actors) and a massive sound-and-light show on a 50-foot screen.

The Rascals -- singer/organist Cavaliere, singer Eddie Brigati, guitarist Gene Cornish and drummer Dino Danelli -- sang and superbly played hits from throughout their career: "Good Lovin,'" "Groovin','" "People Got to Be Free," "How Can I Be Sure," "See," "Come on Up" and more.

Some consider the Rascals the Jersey link between the Four Seasons and Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band, of which Van Zandt is a member. With the Four Seasons being the source material for Jersey Boys, and Springsteen still going strong, it seemed a good time to revive interest in the Rascals. Indeed, to revive the Rascals, themselves.

(This first appeared at Blurt Online, where I also reviewed opening night of the Port Chester concerts at http://blurt-online.com/news/view/7023/ )