Is Broadway the next stop for Steve Martin? Last night, the comedian/actor snagged a Grammy, his fifth, for “Love Has Come For You,” which was named Best American Roots Song. The song is the title track on his album with Edie Brickell. But will a Tony be his next award?
Backstage, Martin talked about the pair”s next collaboration, a musical called “Bright Star,” for which they have written more than 20 songs.
“We”re work shopping it next month in New York and then we”re actually doing it at the Old Globe Theater in San Diego in the fall,” he said. Walter Bobbie, who directed “Chicago,” will helm “Bright Star.”
The play is set in 1945 in North Carolina and jumps back and forth between 1923 and 1945. “It tells the secret of a woman”s life and we”ll leave it at that,” Martin said.
The two elaborated on their working relationship in the print press room and how they write. “I have this raft of banjo melodies. Edie and I met and I would email her banjo tunes and within 24 hours, she would send back a completed song. That”s exactly what happen with ‘Love Has Come For You”,” Martin said.
Brickell, who is married to fellow singer/songwriter Paul Simon, noted that Martin”s melodies “inspire images. And all I had to do was say what I saw.”
Martin”s previous Broadway credits include producing “The Elephant Man” in 2002.