Jerry Mitchell to Develop Two Brand New Musicals for The West End; HONK! Team Joins

Jerry Mitchell is setting his sights on the West End and becoming the next Hal Prince.

The Tony Award-winner has two new musicals currently in development through Jerry Mitchell Productions, aiming for a West End opening, where Mitchell says new pieces can be produced cheaper than on Broadway. His desire is to focus on not only new musicals, but also musical revivals.

Currently in development are a musical based on an unnamed album, as well as one based on Terry Ronald's book, BECOMING NANCY. With music and lyrics by the HONK! songwriters George Stiles and Anthony Drewe, the latter is aiming for a 2017 opening. Elliot Davis will also be involved in the creative process.

"I'm over the moon that George, Anthony and Elliot are working on Nancy," Ronald said. "Apart from the fact that they're great at what they do, they are also so passionate about the book. We all had dinner together with Jerry in February and they were quoting me one-liners and quips from the book that I hardly remembered myself. They knew it inside out. That made me very happy."

This news follows the recent launch of Mitchell's company Jerry Mitchell Productions, with Ambassador Theatre Group, which presented the West End's recent production of DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS.

"I admire people like Hal Prince, who is a producer and director," said Mitchell. "So the next step for me, personally, is to be able to produce and put together people I believe in."

The KINKY BOOTS director continued, "I don't do plays - that's not my thing, that's Sonia Friedman Productions. Jerry Mitchell Productions, I hope, can develop musicals - both new and revivals of shows that are ready to be seen again, but told in a new way. So I have some new stuff I am developing."

Mitchell's early Broadway credits were as a dancer in The Will Rogers Follies and revivals of Brigadoon and On Your Toes. Mitchell's first professional credit as a choreographer was for the 1990 Alley Theatre world premiere of the musical Jekyll & Hyde. Mitchell's first Broadway production as sole choreographer was the 1999 revival of You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown, which he followed with The Full Monty.

Mitchell created and for many years directed the annual Broadway Bares benefit for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. In addition to the theatre, he has choreographed for films such as Camp, In & Out and Drop Dead Gorgeous. He garnered an Emmy Award nomination for his work on The Drew Carey Show.

In 2003 Mitchell was named one of Dance Magazine's "25 to Watch". He directed and choreographed Legally Blonde: The Musical, which opened in April 2007, and served as a mentor on Bravo's reality competition Step It Up and Dance in 2008.

Mitchell created, directed, and choreographed a stage show for Las Vegas, Peepshow, which opened at Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino in 2009. He was involved in workshops for the stage musical version of the film Catch Me If You Can.

In 2013, Mitchell directed and choreographed the Broadway musical Kinky Boots. He won the Tony Award for Best Choreography and was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical.

Source: The Stage,