Jim has been working on a new musical version of The Nutcracker retitled "Nutcracked." Jim will be doing lyrics for songs which run the gamut from raging love duets to hip hop fun.


Music is, of course, by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and arrangements will by long-time friend and collaborator Steve Margoshes. Another long-time friend and collaborator, Steven Rinkoff is co-producer along with Elva Corrie (who is also co-producer of the Bat Out Of Hell Musical) and Robert Mackintosh, a British music manager who handles the up and coming group The Wanted.

The book for Nutcracked will be by Terry Jones of Monty Python fame. Choreography will be handled by Mandy Moore who, incidentally, choreographed Total Eclipse Of The Heart for the TV series So You Think You Can Dance. (Guest judge Lady Gaga, the rest of the panel and the audience were astonished!)



Jim says, "This project has been a source of love & joy & massive creativity for me from the start. I'm as proud of it as anything I've ever done, (except Dream Engine in 1969 at Amherst College)." He promises: "It will have about FIFTEEN new songs. I swear at least three are potential #1's."