'Almost Famous' racks up large ticket queue during first sale day

SAN DIEGO - The Old Globe Theatre's world premiere production of "Almost Famous'' is not slated for its first performance until next month, but the musical is already quite famous in San Diego based on the wait for tickets, which went on sale on Friday, Aug. 2.

Roughly 20 minutes after tickets went on sale at noon Friday, more than 1,400 people were queued to purchase them online and the wait for ticket orders eclipsed an hour, according to one person aiming to secure seats. Tickets to the musical, which is based on director Cameron Crowe's 2000 film of the same name, sold out hastily for opening night.

A spokeswoman for the theater was not able to immediately disclose how many tickets have been sold for the musical in total or how ticket sales compare to previous plays and musicals the theater has hosted.

"We don't usually release numbers,'' Susan Chicoine, a spokeswoman for the Old Globe, told City News Service.

The musical follows a teenage journalist for "Rolling Stone'' in the 1970s who tours with the fictional rock band Stillwater. Both the musical and the movie are quasi-autobiographical as Crowe, a San Diego native, toured with bands like Led Zeppelin and the Eagles during the 1970s as a teenage journalist for "Rolling Stone.'' The musical also name-drops the Old Globe Theatre, which Crowe used to attend as a child, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported in April.

Crowe and Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winner Tom Kitt co-wrote the musical's lyrics together, according to the Old Globe. The musical is directed by Jeremy Herrin, who was nominated for a Tony Award in 2015 for his direction of "Wolf Hall: Parts 1 & 2.''

"Cameron Crowe, Tom Kitt, and Jeremy Herrin have assembled a group of actors blessed with extraordinary talent and incendiary energy, and together they will transform a beloved movie -- which is also, of course, a local San Diego tale -- into an unforgettable new work for the American stage,'' said Barry Edelstein, the Old Globe's artistic director.

Preview performances for "Almost Famous'' are scheduled to begin Sept. 13 with opening night set for Sept. 27. The musical is set to run through Oct. 20.