World premiere 'Becoming Nancy' takes Alliance Theatre stage

ATLANTA (FOX 5 Atlanta) - Atlanta's Alliance Theatre has a strong track record of sending world-premiere works to Broadway, including The Color Purple, Aida, and last year's Tony-nominated hit The Prom.  Now, a new musical is set to join that prestigious list, as Becoming Nancy takes the recently-renovated Coca-Cola Stage.

Becoming Nancy is an original musical written by Elliott Davis and with music and lyrics by George Stiles and Anthony Drewe, and is scheduled to run through October 6 at Atlanta's Alliance Theatre. 

Based on a novel by Terry Ronald, the show tells the story of a talented high schooler named David Starr who gets the surprise of his life when he's cast in the role of Nancy (the female lead!) in his school production of Oliver!  How David, his classmates, his family, and his community react to the news is a heartwarming story that immediately hooked in director/choreographer Jerry Mitchell, a two-time Tony winner for his work on Broadway hits La Cage Aux Folles and Kinky Boots. 

Mitchell first became aware of the story on a long, overseas flight:  "I had watched all the movies on the plane and I just finished my last book and I thought, what am I going to do on an eight-hour flight?  I ran to the bookstore, I read this review of a little book called Becoming Nancy," he remembers.  "I read it from cover to cover on the plane, got off the plane, called my agent… and said, ‘Get me the rights to this book.'"

Fresh off a run as Elphaba in Broadway's Wicked, Jessica Vosk co-stars as David's aunt ("His sassy, cool aunt," she specifies), and also doubles as one of David's pop music idols, Kate Bush.  "I did some research because she's so incredibly weird, in a beautiful way," Vosk says of the real-life singer. "Her expressions and what she does with her modern dance…I've tried to incorporate all of that, which has been so fun."

For showtimes and tickets, click over to the Alliance Theatre website here. And to see a special sneak peek at the show, click the video player above!