KAREN: THE MUSICAL? Megan Mullally's WILL & GRACE Character Almost Got Her Own Broadway Show

In a new interview with USA Today, Megan Mullally reveals that a musical was in the works featuring her beloved WILL & GRACE character Karen Walker. After the comedy was cancelled by NBC in 2006, an idea took shape to create an R-rated Broadway show which parodied the common experience of actors who hoped to separate themselves from a role they had become synonymous with playing.

"Usually when people do a sitcom and they become, like, Jethro from The Beverly Hillbillies, then they spend their entire rest of their careers desperately trying to distance themselves from that character," explains Mullally. "And I thought, how funny would it be to just keep doing it? That's the thing that nobody's ever done."

According to the site, FOX Theatricals came on board for the project, titled KAREN: THE MUSICAL. BOOK OF MORMON director Casey Nicholaw also signed on, and several songs were written for the score. Ultimately, WILL & GRACE creators Max Mutchnick and David Kohan had a change of heart about the idea. "At the last minute, Max and David actually changed their minds about letting me use the rights to the character," explains Mullally, who has no hard feelings about their decision. She shares that the duo had "every right to withdraw the rights to the character. They own all the characters that were in the pilot of the show. Those are their creations, and they wanted to protect their brand and the brand of the show."

Mullally, whose Broadway credits include GREASE, HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS and YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN, most recently appeared on the Great White Way in 2014's IT'S ONLY A PLAY. She will once again take on the role of Karen Walker in the series premiere of WILL & GRACE, premiering tonight at 9/8c on NBC.

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Photo by Chris Haston/NBC