Last night, there was an invite-only industry presentation in Manhattan showcasing 'Dark Lady', yet another Cher juke-box musical. The project, being executive produced by Ken Davenport's Davenport Theatrical Enterprises, is aiming for an Off-Broadway run. Rashidra Scott, Alysha Umphress, and more will star in the work written by Mike Sheedy.
Set in the American South at the turn of the century, Sheedy's story follows Queen, "a young gypsy who travels in a wagon train with her fortune-teller mother, her preacher father, and her two best friends—a free-spirited blonde and a fiery, fiddle-playing redhead. After receiving an ominous and foreboding fortune of events to come, Queen is forced to make a devastating decision that alters the course of her future." It seems safe to assume the score will include Cher's 1971 hit "Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves."
Cher—who made her Broadway debut as an actor in 1982's Come Back to the 5 & Dime Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean—was the subject of an earlier jukebox musical on the Main Stem, 2018's The Cher Show, which used her music to tell the story of her life and career.