Heidi Blickenstaff Talks FREAKY FRIDAY!

Today, casting was announced for the stage adaptation of Disney's iconic film "Freaky Friday," which will be led by Emma Hunton ("Spring Awakening," "Next to Normal") and Heidi Blickenstaff ("Something Rotten," "The Little Mermaid") as daughter and mother, respectively. It will have a world premiere in October at the Signature Theatre in Arlington, VA.

The film and musical are based on a celebrated novel by Mary Rodgers in which an overworked mother and her teenage daughter - who don't see eye-to-eye - swap bodies. This next, contemporary take on this classic tale, features a score by Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey ("Next to Normal," "If/Then") book by Bridget Carpenter (TV's "Parenthood") and choreography by Sergio Trujillo ("On Your Feet"). Christopher Ashley ("Memphis") will direct.

The announcement comes just one day before Heidi Blickenstaff ends her year-long hit run as "Bea" in Broadway's "Something Rotten." Prior to "Freaky Friday," however, she will also join the Long Island Musical Theatre Festival in a celebration of the music of Kander & Ebb (more below).

"I'm so excited about it," Blickenstaff told Center On The Aisle's Steve Schonberg about "Freaky Friday," "I'm just so thrilled to be working with all of those talented authors... I'm super excited to be getting back with Disney after my ["The Little Mermaid"] years, and it just seems like the perfect thing to be doing next."

"The material is so fantastic.... When I read it, I laughed out loud many times. That's sort of a rarity," Blickenstaff added. "People will come [to see it] because they know the property, but they will expect it to entertain them like the Jodie Foster movie did (1976), like the book did, like the Lindsay Lohan movie did (2003)."

"They have a preconceived notion of what it should be. You have to, hopefully, entertain them in spite of what they're coming in knowing and thinking."

For more from this interview, click here.

This premiere production will be directed by Christopher Ashley with choreography by Sergio Trujillo. Freaky Friday will run from October 4 - November 13 in Signature Theatre's MAX Theatre. Further casting and creative team members will be announced in the coming months.

Photo Credit: Linda Lenzi