'HEATHERS' Musical Headed to the Stage

The Hollywood Reporter is reporting that the 1988 cult favorite dark comedy about 4 popular high school girls with a very bad streak, which powered the early careers of Winona Ryder, Christian Slater and writer Daniel Waters, is stagebound in a production being developed by Andy Fickman, director of "Race to Witch Mountain," who is returning to his musical roots.

The industry trade paper reveals that Fickman, who directed the musical "Reefer Madness," is working with "Reefer" partner Kevin Murphy, who is writing the "Heathers" lyrics and the book, and composer Larry O'Keefe, who earned a Tony nomination for best score for the Broadway version of "Legally Blonde."

The trio has worked on the production under the radar for some time reports THR, a recent reading, "Veronica Mars" star Kristen Bell played the lead and Christian Campbell was J.D., with Jenna Leigh Green ("Wicked"), BrokeDown Cadillac lead singer Corri English and Christine Lakin (the CW's "Valentine") as the three Heathers.

The musical project has the blessing of Waters himself, who controls the underlying rights to the material. Fickman told the Hollywood Reporter that he sat down with the screenwriter early on "to make sure we were on the same page" and that Waters has seen the readings.

The film offered many over-top-moments as well as choice lines, something Fickman is eager to bring out musically.

"'I love my dead gay son,'" Fickman quoted. "If you can get that into a song, then that is just perfect."

The creative team hopes to have a fully mounted regional production ready for 2010, followed by a hoped for run on Broadway. To read the full article at The Hollywood Reporter click here.