Will audiences be “Sweatin’ to the Oldies” on Broadway?
Fitness pioneer Richard Simmons is putting together a show for the Great White Way.
“I just got off the phone with a friend of mine who is an attorney and manages famous artists in music,” Simmons — who’s been something of a recluse for the last decade — posted on Facebook last week. “She wants to do an interactive Broadway show about my life.”
The show would create an open space near the stage where theatergoers could join in on workout dance numbers.
Simmons, 75, told us: “I am so excited about the prospect of my own Broadway show. I have so many ideas and I’m writing them all down … Broadway is in my blood!”
To get in the groove, the exercise pioneer has also been reminiscing about some of his own favorite Broadway shows for fans on Facebook.
He posted this month, “I saw a musical called ‘La Cage Aux Folles,” the 1983 Broadway show that was adapted from a 1978 French film, and later remade by Hollywood as “The Birdcage” starring Robin Williams and Nathan Lane.
Simmons recalled of the ’80s production starring Gene Barry and George Hearn, “This show began with all these dancers singing ‘I Am What I Am,’ one of my favorite songs. The dancers spotted me in my seat and waved at me. I did go backstage and said hello. I had tickets to see it the next evening. I sent each dancer a long stemmed white rose. About a week later they sent me a handmade thank you card and they all signed it. I still have that card today.”
He also posted of his theater experiences seeing musicals including “Gypsy,” “The Lion King,” “Flora the Red Menace,” “Barnum,” “Sweet Charity,” “Chaplin,” “Wicked,” “Mama Mia,” “Hair,” “Phantom of the Opera,” “Fiddler On the Roof,” and many more.