The Rubicon’s 2026 world premiere musical brings audiences back to the 1970s, where four college kids promise they’ll be friends forever — a pact that proves more difficult than they ever thought possible as young people listening to groovy jams on vinyl in the shag-carpet basement. Written by Robert Sternin and Prudence Fraser, Somebody to Love is a jukebox musical with the rock songs that shook people all night long. Songs from bands such as Sly and the Family Stone; America; Billy Joel; Roberta Flack; Kiss; Blondie; Jefferson Airplane; Jethro Tull; Little River Band; Chicago; Earth, Wind & Fire; and the Doobie Brothers are part of the show, which has extended its planned run by a week, due to its popularity.
The challenge of creating a jukebox musical is that popular music isn’t written in the musical-theater style, which uses lyrics to move the plot forward. Sternin says, “The jukebox musicals that don’t work are the ones where the music and lyrics aren’t related to the story…. We wanted the lyrics in Somebody to Love to drive the story, as though these lyrics were written for the show.”
Music director Brett Ryback says the chosen songs flow seamlessly between song and scene. “Together with music supervisor Dillon Kondor, we worked to arrange the songs around the script in such a way that they go in and out of dialogue in a logical manner…. We want these songs to speak to the character or emotionality of that moment in the show.”
For the writers (and audience members from the grooviest generation), the music has a nostalgic appeal. “That’s the music we listened to when we were young and in college,” says Fraser. But this era of music has endured through generations and continues to inspire. “It has a fearless, laissez-faire attitude,” says Ryback. “All of these songs have bold musical and lyrical statements … they capture an ‘I can do anything; I can take on anything in this world’ energy. It’s about the audacity of being young … which is why it’ll resonate beyond one generation.”
See Somebody to Love (directed by Sean Daniels) at the Rubicon Theatre (1006 E. Main St., Ventura) March 28-April 19. See rubicontheatre.org.
