Hands on a Hardbody
Opening Night: March 21, 2013
Closing: April 13, 2013
Theater: Brooks Atkinson
For ten hard-luck Texans, a new lease on life is so close they can touch it. Under a scorching sun for days on end, armed with nothing but hope, humor and ambition, they’ll fight to keep at least one hand on a brand new truck in order to win it. In the hilarious, hard-fought contest that is Hands on a Hardbody only one winner can drive away with the American Dream.
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March 21, 2013
If sales of Nissan pickup trucks tick up in the next few months, there may be an unlikely source: a Broadway musical. “Hands on a Hardbody,” a seemingly far-fetched stage show based on a documentary that features songs co-written by Phish frontman Trey Anastasio, stars a modified Aztec red Nissan. By the end of the show, you’ll swear that truck can dance.
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March 21, 2013
One of the simplest, purest ways to create a drama is to expose a competition or game where various individuals are all motivated to win – preferably at any cost. There are two great musicals written from this vantage point: "A Chorus Line and "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee." Now comes "Hands on a Hardbody," a new musical based on the 1997 documentary film about an endurance contest in Texas where people compete to win a new pick-up truck by seeing who can hold his or her hand on the vehicle for the longest period of time over several days.
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March 21, 2013
One kind of source material rarely exploited for musicals is the documentary. I’m not looking forward to a singing version of Capturing the Friedmans. But Doug Wright (who pulled off the trick with Grey Gardens) must like the grit and rhythm of real-life drama. His adaptation of the 1997 film Hands on a Hard Body into a musical of almost the same name (the last two words have mysteriously become one) features tough times, moral uplift, and alt-country songs by musical-theater royalty Amanda Green and Trey Anastasio of Phish.
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March 21, 2013
Well, Broadway finally got itself an all-American musical in “Hands on a Hardbody.” The question is, will an all-American audience go for it? It’s hard to picture hotel concierges, travel agents and group sales ladies pitching tourists a show about some working-class stiffs from East Texas clinging desperately to a cherry-red pickup truck in a marathon competition to win it. Better to comp New York cabbies and cops to spread the word about this offbeat but totally endearing show. Still, no matter how this dark tuner fares under Gotham’s cold glare, regional bookers should be lining up six deep.
READ THE REVIEWMarch 21, 2013
If you only see only one musical this year loosely based on a 1997 documentary about people in Texas trying to win a Nissan truck by being the last person to keep their hand on it, it may as well be Hands on a Hardbody. Yes, it’s easy to raise a mocking eyebrow at the unusual pedigree of this show — and we haven’t even gotten to the almost-as-unlikely part about the songs being co-written by Fort Worth-born but New Jersey-raised Phish frontman Trey Anastasio.
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March 21, 2013
You can hear the sound of America singing in “Hands on a Hardbody,” the daring new musical that opened at the Brooks Atkinson Theater on Thursday night. With a bravado to match the gumption of its characters, a hard-pressed bunch of Texans hoping to beat the odds and win a truck in a grueling contest, this new show drives onto the Broadway lot without the high-gloss blandishments that adorn most big musicals: glittering sets and costumes, high-kicking chorines, megawatt star turns. Instead it concentrates its energies on giving voice to a story of average people fighting to hold onto hope in the face of fierce economic headwinds and bad breaks, not to mention buckling knees.
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