HOUDINI loses Aaron Sorkin

[jo]

Deadline Hollywood has the latest development on the HOUDINI/Hugh Jackman stage musical project.

http://www.deadline.com/2013/01/aaron-sorkin-disappears-from-hugh-jackman-broadway-musical-houdini/


>>EXCLUSIVE: Aaron Sorkin has dropped out of the Broadway production of Houdini, on which he was to make his librettist debut for a musical slated to star Hugh Jackman as the famous magician. Sorkin has put a lot of work into the musical, but had to drop out because of scheduling. He had to go back and write the second season of his HBO series creation The Newsroom, which will be broadcast in the summer. He’s also hard at work adapting the Walter Isaacson book Steve Jobs for a feature film for Sony Pictures on the Apple genius.

That left him pressed to have enough time to finish the musical in time for the producer’s plan to open on Broadway during the 2013-2014 season. Sorkin’s reps are in conversations with the Houdini producers for them to continue developing the musical utilizing Sorkin’s initial concepts and other materials. Stephen Schwartz is writing the music and Scott Sanders and David Rockwell are producing.<<<

This draws out a number of questions --

*Will the much-delayed project ever get completed?
*Will Hugh Jackman's schedule be affected ( film and stage)
*Will other stage projects entice Hugh for the coming season?

[SondheimFan5]

I think all will depend on how much work Sorkin did on the script, and how good that work is. Were there ever any actual readings or workshops of it? My guess is that they will bring in another bookwriter to tie everything together and finish it up. (Tom Meehan seems to do this a lot).

Have we heard anything of the score yet? Wasn't Danny Elfman attached before Schwartz? I know Hugh has spoken highly about Schwartz's score.

[jo]

Stephen Schwartz is composing the music as well as the lyrics. Maybe Sorkin has already done a lot of work on the project ( the book) but may not have time to do the finishing touches, as well as overseeing the rumored out-of-town tryouts and the preview performances, which may lead to minor or extensive rewrites. But he seems to have discussed the book with media to some extent.

There was some talk that a reading of the first act was due for early 2013. Anybody know if that has happened or is scheduled to happen? Hugh is filming a new movie with Jake Gyllenhaal ( PRISONERS) which is expected to be completed in March...and he has had time to do a brief concert with the Philadelphia Orchestra while also attending the awards season events in Hollywood. So, it doesn't seem as if Hugh might be the problem, scheduling-wise, at the moment.

Maybe Stephen Schwartz might shed more light on the project's status when he updates his quarterly newsletter ( there is one due for Winter 2013)?

http://www.theschwartzscene.com/quarterly-newsletter/issue-48-december-2012/

>> Houdini
Stephen Schwartz has been writing songs for Hugh Jackman to perform as the title character in a musical Houdini (music and lyrics by Schwartz and book by Aaron Sorkin). He tested a few of the songs in a private reading. When hurricane Sandy hit Connecticut, and many residents were without power for at least a week, Schwartz was able to keep writing at home by use of a generator. He enjoyed the peace of no Internet connection. Stay subscribed to The Schwartz Scene for future updates about Houdini.<<<

[everythingtaboo]

Maybe now there will be time for songs now that he's out.