DARK OF THE MOON Aiming for Broadway in 2012

According to a report by Variety, a handful of producers are currently working on both musical and screen adaptations of HoWard Richardson's 1945 play, DARK OF THE MOON.  The production team is aiming for a Broadway run in 2012.

Producer's attached to the project include Paul Mason, Mark Salyer, Melissa Wharton, and Arthur Allan Seidelman. Richard Alfieri is set to write the script for both the musical and movie adaptations, and Seidelman is on board to direct both projects. A composer for the projects has not yet been announced.

Set in the Appalachian Mountains and written in an Appalachian dialect, the play centers around the character of John, a witch boy who seeks to become human after falling in love with a human girl, Barbara Allen. Originally written by HoWard Richardson in 1939 as a dramatization of the centuries old European folk song "The Ballad of Barbara Allen", it was first performed at the University of Iowa in 1942 under the title Barbara Allen.

After a rewrite by Richardson's friend, William Berney, it was presented at the 46th Street Theatre in New York City on March 14, 1945, directed by Robert E. Perry. Although Dark of the Moon is not a musical, characters do sing songs in most productions.  Paul Newman and Richard Hart once played the role of John.