A new show inspired by the Magnetic Fields' 1999 magnum opus 69 Love Songs is coming to Broadway, with John Mulaney set to star.
Simon Rich's new marriage comedy All In: Comedy About Love draws inspiration from the record's unvarnished vignettes of love and, in addition to Mulaney, and will feature a rotating cast of Broadway stars and comedians like Fred Armisen, Chloe Fineman, Richard Kind and Renée Elise Goldsberry, Rolling Stone reports.
Best known for their semi-autobiographical theatrical works Hundred Days and The Keep Going Songs, husband-wife folk-rock duo the Bengsons will also perform selections from 69 Love Songs Magnetic Fields songs live on stage for the duration of the show's 10-week run.
"We met at a party in Queens and got married three weeks later. In between the party and the wedding we went on a road trip and one of the first albums we listened to together (a burned CD in an old green CD wallet) was 69 Love Songs," the Bengsons told Rolling Stone. "We fell in love listening to those songs. They were so true and fucked up and aching and funny, we sang then together and to each other and we can't believe we get to sing them in front of actual humans soon. It's an honour and I'm guessing we're just gonna like, scream and cry and laugh every night."
Rich added, "69 Love Songs by the Magnetic Fields directly inspired me to write the love stories that became All In. Stephin Merritt is my favourite living songwriter and he's probably better than all the dead ones I like too." All In performances begin December 11.
This year, the Magnetic Fields have reunited to play the entire album through for the first time since 2000 on an ongoing tour. (Unfortunately it has not yet included any concerts in Canada.)