Musical Versions of ROMEO & JULIET, ROBIN HOOD & More Heading to TV?

According to The Hollywood Reporter, musical versions of Romeo & Juliet and Robin Hood may be heading to television.

Boardwalk Entertainment Group will team up with RCA Records to produce classic stories simultaneously as event TV series and staged musicals. In addition to the classic love saga of Romeo & Juliet, which is in development at Fox, Boardwalk is also planning contemporary musical versions of Robin Hood, King Arthur and Jack the Ripper.

The rush to bring classic musicals to the small screen is in no doubt inspired by the recent success of NBC's record-breaking live broadcast of The Sound of Music last November as well as the long-running FOX musical dramedy GLEE.

The company is also planning to develop limited series as well as live events, specials and multiple-season series. "When something works [in Hollywood], there's always been that rush to figure out how to chase it," says Boardwalk founder Timothy Bogart, who has penned the first two episodes for the Romeo & Juliet project. "Our model is about embracing all facets of the entertainment experience from the creative inception point."

According to THR, as soon as the Romeo project is ordered to series, the same group will undertake plans for a stage version to launch immediately following the debut of the TV series.

Boardwalk's planned projects will feature at least 50 original songs, which will become available for download following each episode's broadcast. "We're trying to do songs that, if it weren't for this show, you'd hear on the radio anyway -- songs that could be found on an Imagine Dragons album or that Lorde would be singing," says songwriter and Boardwalk founder Evan Bogart.

In addition to the upcoming musicals, Boardwalk is also planning an NBC project which will explore the music of the 1970's from the point of view of the music executives and artists of the decade.

Photo courtesy of NBC