First Sondheim show for 20 years

The US is preparing to play host to the first new Stephen Sondheim musical for 20 years on Monday.

The musical, Bounce, opens at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago, Illinois, on Monday night.

The musical is about two real-life entrepreneurial brothers, Wilson and Addison Mizner, and their tumultuous times in early 20th Century America.

Sondheim, the composer and lyricist behind stage hits such as A Little Night Music and West Side Story, has tried to do a stage version of the brothers' stories since the 1950s.

One of the things that made their story worth telling was that they lived their lives with a kind of speed, energy and brightness

John Weidman

Addison Mizner was an architect who helped create the Boca Raton resort in Florida in the 1920s, while Wilson had a more unconventional career that included investing in the Alaskan gold rush and early Hollywood movies.

Richard Kind will play Addison, while Howard McGillin will play Wilson.

Sondheim, 73, has written the musical with his long-time collaborator John Weidman.

Mendes role

"Steve saw Wilson as a guy with so many different talents, a man who was unable to settle on one. In a sense, Wilson's life was squandered because he never picked a path to follow," Weidman said.

The musical was originally called Wise Guys and based around the brothers' relationship with their domineering mother, played by Jane Powell, a veteran musical star.

Sondheim had worked the script with actors in 1999, along with American Beauty director Sam Mendes.

Hal Prince, who worked with Sondheim and Weidman 20 years ago, then came on to the project.

"One of the things that made their story worth telling was that they lived their lives with a kind of speed, energy and brightness, an almost musical-comedy speed," Weidman said.

Bounce will play at the Goodman Theatre until 10 August, before transferring to the Kennedy Centre in Washington D.C. for a month in October.