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Yo! Stallone’s ‘Rocky’ headed to Broadway -- as a musical

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Talk about an out-of-town tryout.

Producers of “Rocky: The Musical” say they are planning to open on Broadway in February after a successful run in Hamburg, Germany ... in German.

Don’t laugh. As “Backbeat” recently reminded us in its tour stop at the Ahmanson, Hamburg is where the Beatles notched their first success.

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Based on the Oscar-winning 1976 film that starred Sylvester Stallone as an up-and-coming boxer, the musical features Stallone as a producer, along with Stage Entertainment USA. The score is by “Ragtime” lyricist Lynn Ahrens and composer Stephen Flaherty, and the book is by Thomas Meehan, who wrote “Hairspray” and “The Producers.”

The show opened in Hamburg last November, using a script that was written in English and then translated into German. In New York it’s scheduled to play at the Winter Garden Theatre. Casting has not been announced.

Although the producers say the musical is more focused on the love story between Rocky and Adrian (played by Talia Shire in the film), there definitely are boxing scenes, choreographed by Steven Hoggett, whose credits include “American Idiot,” “Peter and the Starcatcher” and “Once.”

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“This is not boxers doing a kick line,” Bill Taylor, managing director of Stage Entertainment USA, told the Associated Press. “It’s stunning movement representing some of the sparring and the fighting. It’s very, very cleverly created.”

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