BWW Exclusive: Elementary! Sherlock Holmes on His Way Back to the Broadway Stage?

BroadwayWorld.com has exclusively learned that Sherlock Holmes may be headed to the stage in the coming Broadway seasons. Tony Award Nominated producer Antonio R. Marion (Big Fish, Evita) is said to be sheparding the project that is currently in the developmental stages. The production is set to be a brand new version of the beloved stories written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle that will be presented in the format of a play while a live orchestra underscores the drama and action.

Sherlock Holmes is currently exploited into many different incarnations, which includes two TV shows; the BBC's Sherlock starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman (which just took home seven awards at the 66th Primetime Emmys) and the CBS show Elementary starring Lucy Liu and Johnny Lee Miller. The beloved stories and characters have also been adapted to the big screen in an action-packed franchise directed by Guy Ritchie. This would be the property's first time on the Broadway stage in decades.

No official timeline has been confirmed nor is a creative team, however the show is rumored to be developed in both UK & New York workshops this fall and throughout the spring, aiming for an out of town tryout in the coming seasons.

This will be far from Holmes' first foray onstage. William Gillette's 1899 play Sherlock Holmes, or The Strange Case of Miss Faulkner was a synthesis of several stories by Doyle, mostly based on A Scandal in Bohemia. The Royal Shakespeare Company revived the play in 1973. Directed by Frank Dunlop and starring John Wood as Holmes, the play was a huge success, which led to a move to Broadway and a subsequent tour. Frank Langella first performed the part in 1977 at the Williamstown Theatre Festival in Massachusetts. He took on the role once more for a production taped for HBO in 1981.

Fritz Weaver appeared as Sherlock Holmes in the musical Baker Street, which ran on Broadway between 16 February and 14 November 1965. Peter Sallis portrayed Dr. Watson, Inga Swenson appeared as The Woman, Irene Adler, and Martin Gabel played Moriarty. Virginia Vestoff, Tommy Tune, and Christopher Walken were also members of the original cast. Other theatrical interpretations include Ouida Rathbone's Sherlock Holmes (1953) and Charles Marowitz's Sherlock's Last Case (1987).