John Lennon Biopic to be Developed as Stage Musical

The 2009 film Nowhere Boy, about John Lennon's teenage years has been acquired for development as a stage musical, according to Deadline. The rights have been acquired by producers Brian and Dayna Lee of AF Creative Media, and Robyn Goodman and Josh Fiedler of Aged in Wood.

The biopic starred Aaron Taylor-Johnson as Lennon, Kristen Scott Thomas as Lennon's aunt Mimi Smith and Anne-Marie Duff as Lennon's mother Julia.

The musical will focus on the Quarrymen-era Lennon and the two women who played pivotal roles in his life: Julia Lennon, who abandoned her son but had re-entered his life shortly before she was struck and killed by a car, and Julia's older sister Mimi Smith, who raised Lennon and remained close to him until the icon's assassination in 1980.

Producers Brian and Dayna Lee say the producers envision a "play with music," using the film as a template for incorporating the era's hits, particularly songs by the African-American musicians who so inspired Lennon and the Liverpool youth. Dayna Lee said the stage version would explore and expand upon the relationships between Lennon, his aunt and his mother - "two very different women, very powerful in different ways."

The producers are hoping for a U.K. premiere of the musical in the next few years, and currently have no immediate plans to seek additional life or music rights.

"We've just secured the rights of the film," Brian Lee said, "and as a team we'll be traveling to London this summer, trying to figure out the right person to bring this narrative to life."

The musical, as with the film, would not include Beatles songs but would utilize rock and roll hits of the late 1950s.

In 2005, the musical Lennon premiered on Broadway with a cast that included Will Chase, Terrence Mann, and Mandy Gonzalez. The musical was about the life of Lennon and was based on Lennon's own words and focused on Lennon's solo career.

Aged in Wood's Goodman and Fiedler co-produced Avenue Q, In The Heights, Cinderella and Bengal Tiger At The Baghdad Zoo.The Lees' produced the 2018 Broadway revival of Angels in America, as well as 2017's People, Places and Things Off Broadway. They are also co-producers of the Broadway-bound Moulin Rouge! Nowhere Boy will be their first project as lead producers.

Read the original article on Deadline.