Des McAnuff Will Helm Workshop for New Donna Summer Musical!

Get ready to disco, Broadway! According to an Equity casting notice, a new musical is in the works based on the life of Donna Summer, who passed away in 2012 after a long battle with cancer. Produced by Tommy Mottola and The Dodgers, THE DONNA SUMMER PROJECT will get a workshop this summer, with Des McAnuff at the helm and Sergio Trujillo as choreographer.

Casting is underway for Donnas at three stages of her life: DIVA DONNA (Donna Summer in her 50s at the pinnacle of her career. She is warm and wise. She has lived a life and is our emcee for the evening. Also plays MARY GAINES, Donna's mother); DISCO DONNA (Donna Summer in her late teens and 20s, riding the wave of her skyrocketing career from Boston to Germany to the discotheques of Los Angeles and Manhattan. She is charismatic and strong as she navigates this world for the first time); and DUCKLING DONNA (Donna Summer as a pre-teen, trying to find her voice amid a large Boston family. She has gumption, and yet is also fragile. Also plays MIMI, Donna's oldest daughter).

Summer gained prominence during the disco era of the 1970s. Summer was the first artist to have three consecutive double albums reach number one on the US Billboard chart, and she also charted four number-one singles in the United States within a thirteen-month period.

Theater enthusiasts may remember her as Sheila in the European production of Hair. While in Europe, she participated in the musicals Ich Bin Ich, the German version of The Me Nobody Knows, Godspell and Show Boat.

Photo Credit: Walter McBride / WM Photos