Buffett Writes About Star of His Broadway Musical

Jimmy Buffett penned an article in Vanity Fair about finding his lead role in the musical ‘Escape to Margaritaville’

About 10 months ago, I was in New York casting the role of Tully Mars, the lead in my upcoming musical, Escape to Margaritaville. It debuts this month in New Orleans, where I started my singing career nearly 50 years ago, and heads to Broadway next March. While the show is not based on my life, it is chock-full of songs I wrote in the early years, when I was a singer playing in Key West bars and all along the Overseas Highway. Once in a while in the audition process there will be a performer who, by his or her entrance into the room, tells you that this is the one you are looking for. Enter Paul Alexander Nolan wearing a Hawaiian shirt, a pair of flip-flops, and a guitar strung across his back.

Once Paul had the part, he was full of questions about how to approach the songs and how to play Tully. My answer was simple: “You need to become him.” So we decided to send Paul to “bar-singer boot camp” in the Florida Keys. Stage performers are used to a silence in their workspace, while bar singers thrive in a cacophonous racket. Performing in a funky, loud Keys bar was something I felt Paul needed to experience.

So off we went to the Green Turtle Inn, in Islamorada, a place that was on my song line from past years. On March 7, 2017, along with about 150 bar patrons, we all came together to witness Paul Nolan’s debut as a bar singer, including a few duets with yours truly. I’m proud to say that Paul was a quick learner and graduated from “boot camp” with flying colors. Now we just need to work on his tan.