Dueling LIBERACE Musicals Headed for Broadway?

"Too much of a good thing is wonderful," Liberace often said. Looks like the flamboyant pianist's signature catchphrase will now be put to the test. According to the New York Post's Michael Riedel, dueling stage versions of the life and times of the classical musician are currently in the works.

Earlier this month, it was reported that producer Jerry Weintraub will be behind an upcoming stage adaptation of the HBO Liberace biopic, 'Behind the Candelablra.' According to Reidel, 'Cinderella' scribe Douglas Carter Beane met with the Nederlanders, who may co-produce the project with Weintraub, to discuss the possiblity of writing the book for the musical. The reporter describes Beane as a "Liberace fanatic," who is "willing to shelve all projects to go to work on this one."

Running neck and neck with Weintraub's project is another Liberace entry from producer and lyricist Barbara Carole Sickmen. Authorized by the estate of the late musician, "Liberace: I'll Be Seeing You . . ." will be co-written by Sickmen along with composer Johnny Rodgers and 'Pippin' book writer Roger O. Hirson.

Sickmen claims her story will present Liberace in a "truthful and tasteful manner," and will focus on a darker period of his life, the very public libel lawsuit in which he was forced to deny that he was homosexual.

"We examine the true struggle he was forced to endure," Sickman writes in an e-mail, "the struggle to keep his homosexuality hidden and his willingness to perjure himself again and again to protect his celebrity and his career from being destroyed!"

Photo courtesy of HBO