A classic rock band is set to launch a “very special” project with its original singer in New York.
Foreigner announced Thursday that it will collaborate with the Tilles Center For The Performing Arts and Long Island University’s Post Theatre Company to develop and stage the world premiere production of “Feels Like The First Time - The Foreigner Musical.” A developmental workshop and staged reading will begin later this year, followed by a fully-staged production that will run April 17-26, 2026, at LIU’s Little Theatre.
Lou Gramm, the original voice of Foreigner, will reunite with the band for an exclusive “unplugged” benefit concert to launch the project on Sept. 5, 2025, at the Little Theatre in Brookeville, N.Y. Tickets will be available to the general public for $35 starting Friday, May 16, along with VIP and photo/meet-and-greet opportunities.
All proceeds will directly benefit "Feels Like the First Time" and the LIU and Tilles Center’s New Works Initiative.
Broadway star and Long Island University’s inaugural Artist-in-Residence Adam Pascal (“Rent,” “Aida,” “Chicago”) will direct the new jukebox musical. The production will feature 14 of Foreigner’s hit songs brought to life with book writer Stephen Garvey (“Stages Of Rita: The Rita Hayworth Musical”) and orchestrator and arrange David Abbinanti (“Saturday Night Fever The Musical”).
“When I wrote ‘Feels Like The First Time,’ I had no idea how far that song would take Foreigner,” co-founding guitarist Mick Jones said in a statement. “It is a personal thrill for me to know that the amazing Adam Pascal has elected to use it as the title of our new musical. I am very confident that he and the whole team will create something very special, and I look forward to seeing the completed work in 2026, the 50th Anniversary year of the founding of Foreigner.”
It appears to be a separate project from “Juke Box Hero,” another Foreigner musical that was first announced in 2017. Geordie Brown, who played the male lead in a 2018 workshop production, will perform with the band at upcoming Canadian concerts to help promote the new musical.
Foreigner is a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame group known for hits like “I Want to Know What Love Is,” “Hot Blooded,” “Feels Like the First Time,” “Waiting for a Girl Like You,” and “Cold As Ice.” Gramm and Jones were also inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
Foreigner’s touring lineup features Kelly Hansen, Jeff Pilson, Michael Bluestein, Bruce Watson, Chris Frazier, and Luis Maldonado. Hansen has been the band’s lead singer since 2005. Jones is still a member but no longer performs due to Parkinson’s disease.
Gramm, a Rochester native who currently lives in Webster, N.Y., left Foreigner in 1990 and again in 2002, but said their Rock Hall honor softened his past frustrations. Gramm previously said he would retire but has reunited for several appearances this year and plans to help celebrate the band’s 50th anniversary in 2026.
Foreigner’s upcoming U.S. tour dates include two Upstate New York concerts on Aug. 7 at the Erie County Fair and Sept. 20 at the Turning Stone Event Center in Verona. It’s unclear if Gramm will appear at either show, but the musical launch event comes between both dates.
