This Osmond Family Member To Pen ‘Tell-All’ Musical About Clan’s ‘True Story’
A member of the Osmond family is reportedly penning a “tell-all” musical about life within the devout Mormon clan and will allegedly reveal the “true, unvarnished” story of the singing, superstar music group.
Jay Osmond, singer, and drummer of The Osmonds, is reportedly penning a play revealed the website Deseret News. Allegedly Jay is planning to tell his family’s story, warts and all, in a musical format.
“It will be part Bohemian Rhapsody, part Jersey Boys,” said Jay to the entertainment news outlet. “Without the swearing of course.” The working title thus far is He’s My Brother, a nod to one of the group’s biggest hits, “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother.”
Although there have been two stories that creatively told the story of the family band, Side by Side and Inside the Osmonds, the aforementioned stories were reportedly sugarcoated for the masses as not to disrupt the carefully cultivated wholesome persona that has surrounded the clan throughout their 60-year show business career.
“Some of the obstacles and opposition we faced within the industry itself, and some of the ways we were disciplined as a militaristic kind of family, took a heavy toll. Our dad was an Army sergeant, so we were raised as soldiers basically. The attitude was all for one and one for all, where we had each other’s backs. We were one unit and each of us had a role to play within that unit, which gave us purpose at a young age,” revealed the entertainer in a statement to Deseret News.
The play will reportedly touch on some of the biggest names of the late 1950s, the 1960s and the 1970s to help flesh out the family’s story, including the appearance of some famous friends such as Walt Disney, Andy Williams, Elvis Presley, Jerry Lewis, and Chuck Norris.
The outlet reported that Jay Osmond and his wife of five years, Karen, made the move to England two years ago to collaborate with English scriptwriters for the reported production. The goal is to have the play ready to debut sometime in 2020 in London’s West End.
The Osmond Family made their debut as a barbershop quartet on The Andy Williams Show in the early 1960s. While they achieved minor success, it wasn’t until the addition of younger brother Donny Osmond to the group and dipping their toes into the world of rock and pop music that the group really took off.
At their peak, The Osmonds toured for almost five years straight, in support of their stable of albums. In 1976, Donny and Marie Osmond departed from the family band and struck out on their own as a twosome and the stars of their own variety series, The Donny & Marie Show. The show ran for three seasons on ABC.
The Osmond Brothers, Alan, Wayne, Merrill and Jay all headed to Branson, Missouri where youngest brother Jimmy worked as a businessman and manager; creating and opening the Osmond Family Theater where the brothers performed until 2002. Alan has multiple sclerosis and does not often take to the stage. Neither does Wayne, who survived a brain tumor and retired from performing around 2010.
Donny and Marie Osmond currently perform in their own show at The Flamingo in Las Vegas, Nevada. Their show will conclude after 11 years in November 2019.
