See Rock City and Other Destinations's Jack Cummings On His Off-Broadway Roadtrip

Do you have your dream vacation planned for this summer?  If not,  theater troupe Transport Group has a travelogue musical that might give you some ideas. How about Rock City, Tennessee, located atop Lookout Mountain, where you get a panoramic view of seven states? Or maybe a cool cruise through snow-capped ranges at Glacier Bay National Park, in Juneau, Alaska?  See Rock City and Other Destinations, with music by Brad Alexander and book and lyrics by Adam Mathias, has already won the 2007 Richard Rodgers Award and the 2008 Jerry Bock Award. Its director, Jack Cummings III, is the artistic director of Transport, which was a 2010 Drama Desk Award winner for its recent wonderful revival of The Boys in the Band.  I spoke with Cummings.

TOM MURRIN:  Hi Jack. This seems like a great idea for a summer show.

JACK CUMMINGS III:  It's basically a contemporary pop-rock musical and a road trip for the audience, who will feel like they are going on a travel tour with the actors.  It's the story of seven sightseers, each on a search, and their fellow travelers.  Each part of the play is in a different location. 

TM:  So there are seven different actors going to seven different places?

JC:  No, there are seven actors, but each plays more than one part. And at each place, songs are sung about that place. Each location has its own short story, and all the stories connect thematically and emotionally.  So much of the stories have to do with the characters' expectations, because they are all iconic locations.  And all of the characters have these personal journeys they are on. All have some answer they are searching for, like looking for closure to some struggles in their life, or looking to live for something.  And they think, and hope, these places can provide it.  Also, they are trying to connect with the people they are on the trip with.

TM:  Can you give me some examples?

JC:  There's a grandfather and his granddaughter at the Alamo. There are three sisters who go to Glacier Bay, Alaska, to throw their father's ashes out to the sea, and also reconnect to each other as family. There's a nervous bride-to-be who ponders jumping over the falls at Niagara Falls because she's so scared of getting married. There's a loner kid in Roswell, New Mexico, determined to make his mark in the world by connecting with aliens who arrive in Roswell. Then there's two teen-age prep school boys from the upper East side who skip school and go out to Coney Island and come face to face with their fears about their futures.

TM:  Can you tell me about the musical aspects of the show?

JC:   Each story has its own songs sung by the characters.  It has a contemporary pop-rock music feel to it.  There's a nice orchestra of cello, guitar, bass and piano.

TM:  Tell me about how you plan to stage it, with seven different settings.

JC:  We're staging it in an unconventional way. The destinations, and the stories, and the locations will be in and around the audience, on all sides. So it's not like your common proscenium show. I hope the audience will get the experience of traveling when they experience the show.

TM:  Your cast has a lot of Broadway musical experience from doing shows like Billy Elliott, Big River, Ragtime and Hair.

JC:  Yes, we're very lucky with the cast. We did a three-week workshop last year that was funded by the Richard Rodgers Foundation, and most of that cast is here. That show was a positive experience and we were just waiting for a place to open up so we could do it.  We're happy to be at The Duke on 42^nd St., right across from Mary Poppins.

The Duke, 229 W. 42^nd St., (646) 223-3010, Dukeon42.org, previews July 17, opens July 25, tickets start at $48.