O.J.: The Musical
Well, Sweeney Todd was about a murderer, and people liked it . . .
With your help, the O.J. Simpson trial can be relived as a musical. The show, called Juice, got its start when writer Bebe McGarry became so fascinated with the case that she went to the courthouse every day. Hair director Tom O’Horgan did a reading of it (he says it’s “a good subject, but it has to be worked on”). Now she’s looking for backers. With the Jerry Springer musical coming to Broadway, how tasteless could it be? “It’s about an obsessive, addictive relationship,” says McGarry. To quote from the Bronco chase scene’s chorus: “He’s not worried / How it goes / Not hidin’ / What he knows / Nothin’ goin’ down / Except his lady / Lyin’ on the ground.” It’s a courtroom musical, where Christopher Darden, in a duet with Marcia Clark, advises the jury, “Don’t tear baby justice apart.” Reached at his L.A. law firm, Darden said, “If I believed someone would invest in such a thing, I’d have a reaction. But tell her she better not take anything from my book or I’ll sue her ass.”
—Kate Pickert