Broadway’s next hit could be ‘Bandstand’

Let's shine the spotlight today on a show nobody's ever heard of but everyone's talking about.

Well, those in the know (which now includes you, dear reader) are talking about it.

A reading this week of a new musical called "Bandstand" has backers who were in attendance opening their checkbooks.

Here's the premise: A young soldier returns home from World War II to Cleveland. He's battle-scarred and broke. To make ends meet, he plays the piano and the accordion (an instrument he loathes) at local functions. It's a sad and dreary existence, and like all leading characters in the opening scenes of musicals, he dreams of a far better life.

I dreamed a dream . . . All I want is a room somewhere . . . Maybe far away . . .

His chance comes in the form of a song competition sponsored by Bayer aspirin and NBC. They're looking for the best new American song to welcome the troops back from the war. The winner will get to perform his (or her) song on a live broadcast from Rockefeller Center in New York City.

Our hero enters the competition, but must overcome several hurdles before getting his shot on national television.

I detect shades of "The Best Years of Our Lives," "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?" and "The Voice" in this one — which is not a bad combination.

One of my spies says the show is not "as rah-rah patriotic as you might think," with a plot full of surprising twists and turns. And everybody loves the original score by two unknowns, Robert Taylor and Richard Oberacker. It's upbeat swing music with a few tuneful ballads thrown in for variety.

"The songs are all new, but they sound like they could have been written by Jule Styne and Sammy Cahn and performed by Benny Goodman and W.C. Handy."

Gotta love that!

Taylor and Oberacker met while touring with "The Lion King." They're working on several new musicals, but after the successful reading this week, "Bandstand" has jumped to the head of the pack.

The producers are Tom Smedes, Gabby Palitz and T erry Schnuck. I don't know them — and I must say that Smedes, Palitz & Schnuck sounds more like a personal- injury law firm than a Broadway production company. But more seasoned theater people at the reading, including reps from the Shuberts, Nederlanders and Jujamcyn Theaters, say Smedes, Palitz & Schnuck have gotten hold of a good show.

Jarrod Spector played the down-and-out songwriter, Laura Osnes was his love interest and Beth Leavel played her mother. All were "outstanding," says a source.

You read it here first: The 2016 Tony Award goes to . . . "Bandstand"!

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