What started as a play became a movie and now, after 10 years, is a musical.
Mambo Italiano opens Friday at the Westchester Broadway Theatre for a pre-Broadway run.
One of the original writers of the play Steve Galluccio said there were a number of teams of writers hired before the musical adaption was finally created.
"The process of writing, adapting it into a musical was very long," he said. "They wrote this big, American musical that is destined for Broadway, so they wrote the score, they wrote the book, they adapted both the movie and the play."
The storyline remains essentially the same as the original Montreal-based play only that it's now set in New Jersey, and the parents are now the grandparents along with some other changes.
"I basically agreed to everything," said Galluccio. "I was very pleased when I saw the script."
Galluccio heard a reading of the script in 2015 but has not seen the production.
He said his work provides an escape that he feels theatre audiences are searching for.
"I think we're all looking for comfort food. We're all looking for somewhere that we'll be entertained," he said. "There's so much going on right now, and I think that's why the romantic comedy is making a comeback and musicals on Broadway there are throngs of people going to see musicals. We need that escapism. We need to not think about anything for two hours and be entertained."
Galluccio said he always writes based on his experiences and wants his characters to be human and accessible.
"I just write what I love," said Galluccio. "I write from a very, very honest place."
Galluccio is working on a personal play based on his personal life, which took a dramatic turn after his husband was diagnosed with Alzheimer's.
Mambo Italiano the musical is in previews and runs from August 16 to September 29.
