JC Chasez and Jimmy Harry have collaborated on the upcoming concept album “Playing with Fire,” a musicalization of Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein.” The 16-track album, which features the vocals of Chasez, Cardamon Rozzi and Lily Elise to an electronic-pop-classical score by Chasez and Harry, is slated to be released digitally and as a CD on Oct. 25 from Center Stage Records.
Chasez is best known as a member of the pop group *NSYNC, for which he not only performed but also penned and produced many of its songs. During his tenure with *NSYNC, the group was nominated for eight Grammy Awards. An original cast member of the 1990s television series “The Mickey Mouse Club,” Chasez released a solo album, “Schizophrenic,” in 2004.
Songwriter Harry won a 2012 Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song for “Masterpiece,” which he co-wrote with Madonna and Julie Frost for the 2011 film “W.E.” Harry has additionally collaborated with Pink, Britney Spears, Weezer, Kelly Clarkson, Kylie Minogue and Santana.
“Playing with Fire” offers a new take on Shelley’s classic 1818 gothic horror novel. The musical takes place ten years after the death of Elizabeth, the wife of the titular scientist. At Elizabeth’s grave, Frankenstein and his creature grapple with their past actions and work toward sympathy and forgiveness.
“When we first discussed creating a musical inspired by Frankenstein, obvious topics such as technology, A.G.I., monsters, immortality and death came up,” Chasez and Harry said in a joint statement. “However, when we began the process of writing the songs, we couldn’t help but lean into topics dealing with familial relationships, love, deceit and denial. In the end, we flipped the technological beast on its side to reveal that, in spite of all its benefits and [the] horrors it creates, it changes nothing about our basic humanity.”
Shelley’s novel has received numerous stage adaptations. A short-lived straight-play version by Victor Gialanella played the Palace Theatre in 1981, while Mel Brooks’ “Young Frankenstein,” a musical parody of the “Frankenstein” tale and movie adaptations, opened on the Main Stem in 2007.
