GILLIGAN'S ISLAND Musical Sets Sights on Broadway

Producer DiAnne Fraser has acquired the exclusive first-class stage rights to GILLIGAN'S ISLAND: THE MUSICAL with hopes to mount the show on Broadway.

Based on the iconic hit 60s television series, the book was penned by series creator, the late Sherwood Schwartz, and his son Lloyd. The score is by Schwartz' daughter Hope and husband Laurence Juber, award-winning guitarist-composer.

The eight-character musical has been playing to sold-out crowds in small theatres throughout the country during the past several years and have now put plans in motion to take the show to the Great White Way. 

"Dad (Sherwood who died in July, 2011) loves this show. It was his ultimate dream for it to be on Broadway," said Hope Juber and Lloyd Schwartz.

Fraser, a partner in Los Angeles management/Production Company Industry Entertainment, was a producer of the revised version of the musical WORKING, which had a successful run at Chicago's Broadway Playhouse Theatre last year. Fraser said, "It is astounding how far-reaching the awareness is of GILLIGAN'S ISLAND. References are made to the series, by young and old alike, constantly. I saw the enormous potential of a long-running hit when I first heard about the musical."

The search is now on for a director. Fraser plans to open the show in the '13-'14 season preceded by a possible out-of-town tryout.