Is THE STING Heading to Broadway by Creatives from URINETOWN and THE DROWSY CHAPERONE?

We reported back in 2014 that a new set of con-artists might be on its way to Broadway. We reported then that THE STING, the 1973 Academy Award-winning film, is being adapted into a stage show by Tony winners Bob Martin (The Drowsy Chaperone, Elf), Greg Kotis and Mark Hollmann (Urinetown).

Today, we have new information, via Michael Riedel in the New York Post that a reading was held earlier this month, directed by John Rando and "the cast included Shuler Hensley as the mob boss (memorably played by the great Robert Shaw in the movie) and Mandy Gonzalez as Billie." Riedel also reports that the show will open with 'The Entertainer', the Scott Joplin song arranged by Marvin Hamlisch for the film version.

The Sting is a 1973 American caper film set in September 1936, involving a complicated plot by two professional grifters (Paul Newman and Robert Redford) to con a mob boss (Robert Shaw). The film was directed by George Roy Hill, who had directed Newman and Redford in the western Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Created by screenwriter David S. Ward, the story was inspired by real-life cons perpetrated by brothers Fred and Charley Gondorff and documented by David Maurer in his bookThe Big Con: The Story of the Confidence Man.

The title phrase refers to the moment when a con artist finishes the "play" and takes the mark's money. If a con is successful, the mark does not realize he has been "taken" (cheated), at least not until the con men are long gone. The film is played out in distinct sections with old-fashioned title cards, with lettering and illustrations rendered in a style reminiscent of the Saturday Evening Post. The Sting was hugely successful at the 46th Academy Awards, being nominated for 10 Oscars and winning seven, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Original Screenplay.