‘Cruel Intentions’ Musical Duo Taps Into Nostalgia Takeover With ‘The OC’ Show
Multihyphenate Lindsey Rosin and her producing partner Jordan Ross made noise this summer with the success of their legit adaptation of the cult-fave movie “Cruel Intentions.” On Sunday night, the pair hope to strike again with their latest nostalgic endeavor, “The Unauthorized OC Musical.”
The tuner, inspired by the teen-centric soap that ran on Fox from 2003 to 2007, is set to premiere as a one-night only event at Hollywood’s Montalban Theater, where it broke a house record for selling out within 15 minutes.
“I think in general, I feel like a child of the ’90s,” Rosin says of her affinity for nostalgic projects like “Cruel Intentions” and “The O.C.” She adds, “That’s a time that will always be special to me and obviously, a lot of people my age. I like to say my spirit animal is a teenage girl and I feel that more strongly as time goes on.”
While juggling the productions of “Cruel Intentions” and “The Unauthorized OC,” musical, the 30-year-old writer-producer-director has been busy setting up television projects in development and writing a novel for Simon and Schuster’s Simon Pulse YA imprint. And Rosin and Ross have ambition to expand the musical repertoire, under their Sucker Love Productions banner. (The company name comes from a lyric in the “Cruel Intentions” film, which is used as the opening line in the musical.)
“We’re jokingly calling it ‘The Syndication Playlist,'” Rosin explains of the pair’s plans to develop more stage shows, following “The OC.” “We’re hoping this is the first installment. Our idea would be to turn this idea into a series — do one-night-only events of our favorite shows.”
“Cruel Intentions” ran for 38 sold-out performances at L.A.’s Rockwell Table & Stage, and even piqued the interest of the film’s original stars, Reese Witherspoon, Selma Blair, Sarah Michelle Gellar and Ryan Phillippe. The tuner is likely to continue on in some form in New York or Los Angeles in the near future.
“The OC” musical has no connection to the television production. In the case of “Cruel Intentions,” the original film’s writer-director Roger Kumble quickly gave his blessing after attending the show and since has been in close contact with the duo.
With “Unauthorized OC,” Rosin and Ross felt the pressure of mounting a one-night-only event for an audience of nearly 1,000. “There have been challenges just upgrading to a 1,000-person venue. ‘Cruel Intentions’ was only 150 people. That’s one logistical huge difference,” Rosin says.
“The Unauthorized OC Musical” cast. Photo courtesy of Alex Dean.
The daughter of “Beverly Hills, 90210” and “Dawson’s Creek” exec producer Charles Rosin, Rosin knows how fortunate they are to get their musical projects off the ground.
“My parents are TV writers so I know what comes up must go down, so I’m just trying to just enjoy the ride,” she says. “A lot of professions are like a ladder [but] trying to break into Hollywood is like a catapult where you sit in the same spot for along time and wait for someone to pull the string. So right now, this is sort of like flying.”
Even with her hectic schedule, Rosin penned her first-ever novel, slated to hit shelves next summer. “Cherry” is described as a female spin on the “American Pie” movies.
The novel, her budding TV work and the success of her stage efforts have made for a surreal summer for Rosin.
“This is beyond my wildest imaginations,” Rosin says. “And as a writer, I think I have a pretty good imagination.”
Rosin is repped by ICM, Foundry Literary + Media, Underground, and Gang, Tyre, Ramer & Brown.
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