‘Duck Dynasty’ musical is real, but not ‘cheesy’ or ‘cynical,’ producer vows

Can the “Duck Dynasty” musical heal America?

Michael David, the Broadway producer behind “Jersey Boys,” is keenly aware of how “spectacularly and unhealthfully polarized” the nation is. He’s had plenty of reminders after the New York Times revealed in November “The Duck Commander Musical” will debut in Las Vegas.

Now it’s official. The musical authorized by America’s favorite rednecks, the Robertson family, will open at the Rio on April 20. Presales for players club members and registered “Duck” fans begin Thursday, general sales commence Feb. 17.

And, its producer says frankly, “I don’t know if this will work.”

He has good reason, considering the cross-skepticism: whether fans of A&E’s reality-TV hit about a family of bearded, camouflaged duck-call entrepreneurs will go see a musical, and whether the gay-friendly Broadway community will boycott this one after family patriarch Phil Robertson got in trouble for homophobic comments.

A sampling of local Facebook reaction to the news:

“We may have sunk to a new low.”

“Reminds me of ‘The Jeffersons on Ice’ from ‘Kingpin.’ ”

“(Have) these executives lost their mind? We are in Las Vegas … no swamp around … very soon we will have Honey Boo Boo at The Venetian.”

David acknowledges with a laugh that part of opening at the Rio is to put the new work in front of “a broad demographic to see, Does anybody like this?”

He can tell you it’s not “the ‘Duck Dynasty’ folks getting all dressed up in spangles.”

And it’s not a spoof. That would be too easy, says David, co-founder of Dodger Theatricals. Known in the theater community as The Dodgers, their hits include “The Who’s Tommy” and the current “Matilda the Musical.”

“I think we were much more intrigued with sort of examining who these people were,” he says. “Everybody’s more complicated than you think they are at a distance.”

“It isn’t cynical, it isn’t cheesy, and it isn’t catering to what we think everyone will like.”

To put it another way, “theater people are storytellers,” the producer says. “That’s what we do. Presumably we don’t only tell stories about people we agree with. … The theatrical library would be considerably diminished if people chose to write and sing and produce only those shows about subjects we completely agree with. You’d immediately remove ‘Chicago’ and ‘Evita’ and ‘Sweeney Todd’ and ‘Pal Joey.’ ”

The “Duck Commander” musical with 11 actors and a live band is based on Willie and Korie Robertson’s book, “The Duck Commander Family — How Faith, Family and Ducks Built a Dynasty.”

“It isn’t often that you are approached with the idea to have your life story transformed into a musical,” Willie Robertson said in a statement. “But when opportunity knocks, you answer the door — and sometimes that door leads to Las Vegas.”

The Dodgers were drawn in by composers Robert Morris, Steven Morris and Joe Shane. “It’s a rags-to-riches story about these people who we only know what we know from a television program,” David says. “A musical about the lives of the Robertsons, which includes in a small way the fact that ‘Duck Dynasty’ is a part of their lives.”

Willie and Korie Robertson have been involved with the show’s development, but not Phil Robertson, whom A&E suspended in 2013 after controversial comments about gay sex in a magazine Q interview.

“Phil Robertson is not an official part of the business,” David says, but the musical will acknowledge the controversy. “I think if we were simply the right arm of the Robertsons and doing just what they wanted done, I think that would be something no one on this project would have wanted to do.”

The Dodgers’ “Jersey Boys” has played on the Strip since 2008. “Is (the new venture) a show that’s going to appeal to blue-collar families? I hope so. But ‘Jersey Boys’ does that, too,” David says.

The country-leaning score is “not going to shout Broadway musical, but I think there is something in it for everybody,” he adds.

“I would describe the audiences in Vegas as friendly audiences,” David notes. “This is if nothing else family-friendly and familial and warm and funny, and I hope entertaining.”

But can it heal America?

“We are ardent Blue State liberals, our little group. That’s just the way it is,” says David, who at least has a long beard in common with the Duck dudes. “But this was appealing to me, and it’s fair to say to the Robertsons, because it created a possible bridge between those two extremely polarized places and peoples.”

One of the goals was to take the two groups “who we imagined had very strong feelings about each other,” and put them in a room together, “to see if a possible byproduct of that collaboration would be that something in the process would produce more than a good show.

“If nothing else, in working together they’d learn a lot more about each other, which might create understanding, which might create tolerance, which might create respect. And if they felt that for each other, then that might be viral.”

Contact reporter Mike Weatherford at mweatherford@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0288.