Credit: Neil ZlowzowerZZ Top is joining the ranks of rock artists whose songs have been used as the inspiration for a jukebox musical. A stage production titled Sharp Dressed Man currently is in development and it’s expected to open next year in Las Vegas.
The show is described as “an outrageous, bawdy musical romp” that tells the story of an auto mechanic from Texas “who becomes a modern-day Robin Hood, stealing hearts — and car parts — with the help of his merry band of beer drinkers and hell raisers.”
Among the classic ZZ Top tunes that will be featured in the musical are “Legs,” “La Grange,” “Gimme All Your Lovin'” and “Cheap Sunglasses.”
ZZ Top’s members — singer/guitarist Billy Gibbons, bassist Dusty Hill and drummer Frank Beard — are serving as executive producers on the project, which is being developed by the Caesars Entertainment production team headed by Michael Gruber and Jason Gastwirth. The band’s longtime manager, Carl Stubner, also is among the musical’s producers.
“We’re excited about this fantastic project and look forward to hearing our music in a new innovative context,” says Gibbons. “Fans have often told us that we’ve provided the soundtrack to their lives, and this is very much in line with that kind of enthusiastic thinking.”
Sharp Dressed Man‘s book is being written by Robert Cary and Jonathan Tolins, the duo that also penned the teleplays for the Grease Live! and A Christmas Story Live! musical TV specials. In addition, Cary co-wrote the Broadway shows Summer: The Donna Summer Musical and Flashdance The Musical.
As previously reported, ZZ Top is celebrating its 50th anniversary with a major tour that will visit Europe next month and July, followed by a lengthy U.S. leg that currently is mapped out from mid-August to late October.
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