Zephyring 20 Years! OG ‘Happy Feet’ Soundtrack Songstress Gia Farrell Hopes On Upcoming Broadway Musical

Twenty Years Later, “Hit Me Up” Might Find Its Way to the Stage

Zephyring 20 years! One of our favorite pop relics from the original Happy Feet era just found itself circling back toward the spotlight.

Jeannie Bocchicchio — better known to 2000s pop heads as Gia Farrell — has said she would love to be involved in the upcoming Broadway-bound Happy Feet musical. And this is not some random fan-casting fantasy: director Michael Arden saw her message and told her he had passed her information along to the production’s casting team.

The timing could not be more deliciously full circle. Happy Feet opened in theaters on November 17, 2006, meaning the tap-dancing penguin phenomenon is officially approaching its 20th anniversary.

Farrell was only 17 when she attended the film’s Los Angeles premiere that year. Her fizzy pop single “Hit Me Up” appeared on the soundtrack and became one of the project’s most memorable original pop cuts, sitting alongside music from Prince, Pink, Brittany Murphy and the film’s stacked cast.

Quick correction to an old bit of soundtrack mythology: “Hit Me Up” was not technically the album’s lead single — that honor went to Prince’s “The Song of the Heart.” But Farrell’s track absolutely developed a life of its own, becoming an international pop hit and one of the songs most closely associated with the movie’s 2006 campaign.

Gia Farrell Wants Back Into the Happy Feet World

The new stage version was announced earlier this year as a Broadway-bound musical based on George Miller’s Oscar-winning animated film. Two-time Tony Award winner Michael Arden is directing, Douglas Lyons is writing the book, and the choreography team includes Ayodele Casel, Lauren Yalango-Grant and Christopher “Cree” Grant.

The production is expected to use songs from the movie alongside other familiar chart hits, which naturally raises one very important INYIM question: are we getting “Hit Me Up”?

Bocchicchio revealed that she learned auditions for the musical were taking place but could not attend. She wrote that because her song had been such a major part of the movie’s music era, it would be an honor to be involved in the new production.

Arden then responded directly, telling her that he had passed her information along to the casting team and congratulating her on her career. That is not the same thing as an official casting announcement, so nobody start printing Playbills just yet — but the door is clearly not imaginary.

And frankly, if a movie is coming back to Broadway two decades later, there is something rather perfect about finding a way to bring one of its original soundtrack voices along for the ride.

Why “Hit Me Up” Still Hits

We have loved this thing since inception — possibly with even more devotion than the movie itself. It is glossy, shamelessly pop, rhythmically caffeinated and very specifically 2006 in the best possible way.

Atlantic released “Hit Me Up” in October 2006 ahead of the film, with Farrell also sharing songwriting credit alongside Brian Kierulf and Josh Schwartz. Two decades later, it is still spinning over at INYIM Radio, because some pop records simply refuse to age out of rotation.

So while Broadway casting remains to be seen, we are keeping the fingers crossed. A little Gia Farrell callback inside the new Happy Feet universe would be exactly the sort of 20-year pop-circle moment we enjoy around here.

Watch Gia Farrell’s Official “Hit Me Up” Video

Atlantic Records’ official video for “Hit Me Up” connects Farrell’s 2006 single directly to the Happy Feet soundtrack era.

Gia Farrell — “Hit Me Up” Archival Performance Upload

A second archival YouTube upload preserves another performance-era clip of Farrell and the song; the exact original program and upload provenance could not be independently confirmed.

Source: Playbill, Just Jared and Atlantic Records.