Rock Musical "The 12" World

Premiere, April 1 at Broward Center

If the World Premiere of "The 12" scheduled for April 1 at the Broward Center has half the passion as the show's composer and lyricist Neil Berg and show producer Adam Friedson, audiences will be in for a very special treat.

This is an original rock musical that seeks to join the ranks of Jesus Christ Superstar, Hair, Rent and Spring Awakening. The story and concept are by Berg who expressed a "life long fascination with religion" when he spoke at a recent Fort Lauderdale press conference. The show is written by Pulitzer Prize winning playwright, Robert Shenkkan.

"This was written from the heart," Berg told reporters at a special screening of a 12 minute "showcase-type" performance recently held in a New York City club. "I wanted to explore the dramatic questions surrounding one of the most important events in human history." Berg developed the music, lyrics and story concept.

Berg said that he was a rock and roller at heart and a musician with a love of the history of the genre. "I wanted to write an authentic rock and roll show," he emphasized.

Producer Adam Friedson said it was his goal to bring together the b iggest names in contemporary theater to create a "great fusion" of Broadway talent. The show has cast Ron Bohmer (Phantom, Les Miserables, Ragtime) as the apostle Peter; Jeremey Kushnier (Rent, Footloose) as apostle Thomas; Pattie Russo (featured singer from Meatloaf, Trans Siberian Orchestra) as Mother Mary and The Devil; Michael Lanning (Broadway's The Civil War) as Simon; Sophia Ramos (VH1s Best Undiscovered Artist), as Mary Magdelene.  One of the great surprises was the casting of Palm Beach resident and former lead guitar player from the heavy metal band Anthrax, Dan Spitz.

Spitz said that he and Berg have known each other for a long time but was still surprised when offered a part in the musical. "Neil came to me and said, you need to be a part of this," Spitz said. This is another in a series of dramatic changes in the life of Spitz who gave up the music scene and left Anthrax to become a master watchmaker and founder of Spitzwatch.

The rock and roll production will be set in the context of a modern day underground rock band whose members face a crisis in their lives when their leader is murdered. The team behind the show expects "The 12" to appeal to a wide range of audiences and are doing a lot of preliminary ground work to let the religious community know about the show and what it seeks to accomplish. They say it is about how people react under pressure and how they interact with each other. It won't hurt that, judging from the samples of music from the production, at heart it will be a rock and roll event with great vocal talent and great music.

The show will play in several small markets as the cast and music is fine tuned and then open April 1 at the Au-Rene Theater at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts. For ticket information visit www.browardcenter.org.      (Story and Photo by Ray Brasted - Promenade News)