Ian Anderson will bring his new production, Jethro Tull: The Rock Opera, to the United States in November.
Anderson first started talking about the new work in February, saying that it would include songs from the Tull cannon with words rewritten to work in the show, along with a few new songs. He wrote about the show on his website:
As a tribute to the original 18th Century agriculturalist whose name our agent “borrowed” back in February 1968, I have imagined a scenario where the pioneering pursuit of improved crop-growing and farming methodology might apply to the world of today and tomorrow. (Yawn, yawn but who else is going to feed the planet?)
When this notion first occurred to me last Summer, I had no inkling that, when I examined all of my song material – especially the lyrics, there would be so many perfect fits in regard to song subject and references.
The life story of the original Tull (in as much as we have recorded historical detail of it) has so many interesting and workable parallels. Wind Up, Heavy Horses, Aqualung, Back to the family, Farm On The Freeway and Songs From The Wood amongst others were natural inclusions. A few others were bent into shape with a slight re-write of lyrics and five new songs round off the intended setlist.
Some of the material will be accompanied by brief performance inserts of our “virtual guests” on the big HD video screen. Instead of spoken introductions to the songs in the show, there will be the use of that operatic device, the “recitative”, where the links are made by short sung vocal segments in a usually-simple musical backdrop, making it a little easier and more entertaining for non-English-speaking audiences.
Anderson had already announced a series of shows for September in England performing the new work and has now added eight U.S. shows in November.
The full itinerary, so far, for Anderson performing Jethro Tull: The Rock Opera:
09/08 – Basingstoke, U.K. – The Anvil
09/10 – London, U.K. – 02 Shepherd’s Bush Empire
09/11 – Birmingham, U.K. – Symphony Hall
09/12 – York, U.K. – Barbican
09/13 – Gateshead, U.K. – Sage Theatre
09/14 – Salford, U.K. – Lowry Lyric Theatre
11/01 – Chicago, IL – Chicago Theatre
11/03 – Detroit, MI – Fox Theatre
11/05 – Boston, MA – CITI Performing Arts Center
11/06 – Brooklyn, NY – Kings Theatre
11/07 – Philadelphia, PA – Academy of Music
11/08 – Mashantucket, CT – Foxwoods Resort Casino
11/10 – Port Chester, NY – Capitol Theatre
11/11 – Newark, NJ – New Jersey Performing Arts Center
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