TIMES SQUARE  /

A new musical by Jim Lewis, Music & Lyrics by Jill Sobule and Robin Eaton

For videos and songs performed live at Joe's Pub, click HERE.

Times Square is a new musical based on the cult classic Allan Moyle and Jacob Brackman 1980 film of the same name starring Tim Curry, Trini Alvarado, and Robin Johnson. The musicals' creative team brings together veteran singer-songwriter Jill Sobule with her longtime collaborator Robin Eaton, Tony-nominated writer Jim Lewis and director Steve Cosson, Artistic Director of the acclaimed theater company The Civilians.

Watch the 1980 trailer for the film set to demos of a few songs for the new musical.

Times Square - A New Musical from The Civilians on Vimeo.

The musical Times Square tells the story of two very different teenage girls: Nicky Marotta, a volatile street kid who dreams of being a musician, and Pamela Pearl, the withdrawn daughter of a wealthy Upper East Side lawyer. The two forge an unlikely bond, and through the alchemy of rock and roll, turn their lives inside out and recreate themselves as a punk duo, The Sleeze Sisters. Together, they find friendship, love and music on the rough-and-tumble streets of pre-Disney Times Square.

Aided by DJ Johnny LaGuardia, the two young runaways broadcast their music to the city and unleash a spirit of rebellion and rock and roll. So while Pammy's father desperately tries to bring her home, Johnny encourages the girls to defy authority and raise hell. As the antics of the Sleeze Sisters become riskier and their friendship deepens into a love, the girls find that holding onto each other is far harder than either ever imagined.

The original movie (directed by Allan Moyle with a screenplay by Moyle and Jacob Brackman) was inspired by an actual street kid's diary that Moyle found in a secondhand couch. But under the insistence of the movie's producer, much of the grit of their early drafts was scrubbed clean. Our musical returns to the original spirit of Moyle and Brackman's screenplay to try and capture the heady, edgy world that was Times Square at the dawn of the 80s - a world in which a couple of scared, angry teenagers could rock NYC with their spirit of rebellion and a sound to match.

Times Square has been developed through workshops at The Public Theater and at the American Musical Theater Project of Northwestern University.

CREATIVE TEAM  /

Music & Lyrics by:
JILL SOBULE and ROBIN EATON

Book by:
JIM LEWIS

Directed by:
STEVE COSSON

JILL SOBULE (music and lyrics) Over seven albums and nearly two decades of recording, singer-songwriter Jill Sobule has mused on topics such as the death penalty, anorexia, shoplifting, reproduction, the French resistance movement, and the Christian right. Her recording career began in 1990 with her debut album THINGS HERE ARE DIFFERENT, recorded by Todd Rundgren. Her 1995 self-titled album, JILL SOBULE, yielded the hit songs “I Kissed A Girl” (the original) and “Supermodel.” Since then, she has continued to record, produce and tour with an ever-growing loyal fan base. She’s performed with Neil Young, Billy Bragg, Steve Earle, Cyndi Lauper, Tom Morello and Warren Zevon and inducted Neil Diamond into the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame. She served as songwriter/composer for the hit Nickelodeon network show UNFABULOUS during that show's three-season run, and her songs have appeared in a multitude of films including MIND THE GAP, in which Jill costarred. In the words of New York Times pop music critic Jon Pareles, “Jill Sobule can claim her place among the stellar New York singer-songwriters of the last decade. Topical, funny and more than a little poignant...grown-up music for an adolescent age.”

ROBIN EATON (music and lyrics) has been a writer/producer/musician/performer in Nashville for the past twenty years. His studio, Alex the Great, has hosted countless bands and artists from around the globe, including his long time collaborator, Jill Sobule. Robin has written songs with Jill for all of her records as well as producing four or five of her albums with his studio partner Brad Jones. Robin’s recording career includes time signed with Warner Brothers in Paris, Ze/Island Records in NYC as well as contributing songs to numerous films and TV. In the TIMES SQUARE era he was part of the downtown music scene, frequently playing CBGB’s and other venues as part of the influential new wave band the Leisure Units.

JIM LEWIS (book) is the co-conceiver/writer/lyricist of FELA! now in its third year touring the world. Jim received his second TONY Nomination for “Best Book of a Musical” for this production, which ran for over 16 months on Broadway, and won three TONY Awards. In 2008, Jim received a rare two separate Drama Desk “Best Book” nominations for the same season: the first for FELA! and the second for This Beautiful City (which he wrote in collaboration with Steve Cosson and The Civilians). In 1995, Jim received both TONY and Drama Desk nominations for his adaptation of Chronicle of a Death Foretold, produced on Broadway by Lincoln Center Theater. In 1989, he wrote Dangerous Games, which moved to Broadway after being produced at the La Jolla Playhouse, Spoleto Festival, American Music Theater Festival, and Curran Theater. In 1988, his Tango Apasionado, adapted with Graciela Daniele from stories by Borges, received popular and critical acclaim at the Westbeth Theater Center. Jim’s translation of Ionesco’s The Chairs and adaptation of Ibsen’s Lady from The Sea, have been produced by many theaters nationally.

The first public readings of Times Square were held on June 1 and 4 of 2013 at Joe's Pub in New York.

MEDIA  /

Here's a video of "Barricade" performed in our Let Me Ascertain You: LGBTQ cabaret night by Alyse Alan Louis and Mike Brun.

Here's a video of "Last Kiss" performed in our Let Me Ascertain You: LGBTQ cabaret night by Alyse Alan Louis and Mike Brun.