“The Wanderer,” the life story of one of the giants of Rock N Roll, is playing out on a New Jersey stage.

The hit songs may be familiar, but the story of the artist who made them famous, Dion Dimucci -- you may not know so well.

"There's somebody always leaping across the room,” says Dimucci. “I never thought my misspent youth would be expressed by the choreography."

Dimucci was a teen idol beginning in the 1950s, whose doo wop sound of Dion and The Belmont’s took him from the streets of the Bronx and soared him into international fame. Followed soon by a hard fall into addiction, events played out in the world premier musical, "The Wanderer."

WATCH: Extended interview with music icon Dion Dimucci

“There's something beyond success, and if you don't work that out you're going to be unhappy if you have the money, the pleasure, the power and the honor,” says Dimucci. “You're still going to be unhappy."

"The Wanderer" has been in development for more than a decade. It officially opens Sunday at Paper Mill Playhouse with Mike Wartella as Dion.

“He is the epitome of New York strong, New York tough, Bronx tough, and he knows it,” says Wartella. “He knows it musically, he knows it as a person."

“The Wanderer,” which is set in the Bronx over 10 years beginning in 1958, and is a story of Rock and Roll.

New Jersey's Steven Van Zandt, of the E Street Band, is the show's musical consultant.

"The Wanderer” is scheduled to run at Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn through April 24.