Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo Debut New Musical, ‘Invincible’ in Los Angeles

Rock and Roll Hall of Famers Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo’s new musical featuring their hit songs, “Invincible,” premiered Friday night in Beverly Hills for a run through Dec. 18–but don’t call it a jukebox musical.

“We didn’t wanna do a jukebox musical with the exact same songs the way they were,” Giraldo tells Variety.

The show– a reimagining of Romeo & Juliet–includes hits like “Heartbreaker,” “We Belong,” “Love Is a Battlefield” and “Shadows of the Night,” it also features some lesser-known songs, all of which have been, “twisted…a little bit, to have more fun with it.”

One example is Benatar’s best known song, “Hit Me With Your Best Shot,” which was included in the Broadway musical, “Rock of Ages,” featuring Tony-Award nominated actor Constantine Maroulis. According to Giraldo, “Invincible” only highlights seconds of the song.

“We have one chorus of that that comes in the middle of another song, only as an homage to everyone who’s gonna go crazy if we don’t have it, but it’s literally in there for, like, 10 seconds,” he said.

 Giraldo and their collaborator Bradley Bredeweg hope to eventually bring their musical to Broadway.