Last Dance Boogies Toward Broadway

The name Paul Jabara might not mean much to you younger readers, so come sit on Uncle Romeo's lap.

Back in the 1970s, this gay songwriter was responsible for many of the great hits of disco, including "No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)," "The Main Event," the gay anthem "It's Raining Men," and the Oscar-winning "Last Dance."

Of course, these days, you're not a truly important songwriter until someone turns your work into a Broadway musical, so Jabara is getting his moment in the footlights: Last Dance, his very own Mamma Mia!, if you will, is being developed under the direction of Philip McKinley, who guided Hugh Jackman to a Tony in the Peter Allen musical The Boy from Oz.

Last Dance will premiere in summer 2007 at the Bay Street Theater in Sag Harbor, N.Y., with an eye toward Broadway.