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New Movie-Based Musicals Head to Broadway Stages

By: Sep. 20, 2005
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According to a recent article in Variety, a parade of new musicals based on hit films is heading for Broadway in upcoming seasons. Many of the new shows are also financed by Hollywood studios and organizations with movie clout.

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Disney Theatricals, which has had hits with Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King and Aida on Broadway, will see a number of their shows blossom on Broadway--Tarzan will open this spring, followed by Mary Poppins the season after, and The Little Mermaid the season after that. Of course, Mary Poppins has already opened her umbrella to great success in London.

Shrek will come to Broadway in the 2007-2008 with a high-profile creative pedigree behind it. Sam Mendes (Cabaret, Gypsy, the film American Beauty) is attached as the show's director and David Lindsay-Abaire (Fuddy Meers, Kimberly Akimbo) will pen the book. Based on DreamWorks Animation's blockbuster about a tough but tender-hearted ogre, the show will also be produced on Broadway by the studio.

DreamWorks will also bring Catch Me If You Can to Broadway. With a score by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman (Tony Award-winners for Hairspray), the show is based on the 2002 hit about a versatile con artist. The film was directed by Steven Speilberg and starred Leonardo diCaprio and Tom Hanks.

MGM on Onstage is increasingly involved in the theatre world; they will be the studio behind upcoming Broadway productions of Legally Blonde, The Thomas Crown Affair, Heartbreakers and Get Shorty. Based on the 2001 Reese Witherspoon comic hit about defying expectations, Legally Blonde will boast a score by the husband-and-wife team of Lawrence O'Keefe (Bat Boy, Cam Jansen) and Nell Benjamin (Cam Jansen). MGM On Stage is already represented by Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.

The Wedding Singer will arrive on Broadway this spring; it will star Laura Benanti, Stephen Lynch and Felicia Finley. The show, which is based on the 1998 romantic comedy with Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore, will feature music by Matthew Sklar, with lyrics by Chad Beguelin, and a book by Tim Herlihy and Chad Beguelin. The Wedding Singer will be produced on Broadway by New Line, as will upcoming musicals based on the 2000 British hit Saving Grace, the 2003 Michael Caine film Secondhand Lions and 1995's Don Juan DeMarco, which starred Johnny Depp and Marlon Brando.

Universal, which is the studio behind Wicked, will follow up Broadway's current biggest commerical success with Billy Elliot: The Musical. Of course, the show is already a smash on the West End; it features a score by Elton John (The Lion King, Aida) and is helmed by Stephen Daldry (the film version of Billy Elliot, The Hours).

Finally, Warner Brothers is getting into the Broadway act with a branch called Warner Bros. Theater Ventures. Lestat will be the firm's first production. The show is based on the Vampire Chronicles of Anne Rice. The smash 1994 film Interview with the Vampire drew upon some of the same characters--with lusty vampires Lestat and Louis played by Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt. Lestat will star Hugh Panaro, Jack Noseworthy and Carolee Carmello.

A number of other musicals are in the works that are based on hit films. They include Nine to Five (with a score by Dolly Parton), Ever After, The Princess Bride (with a score by The Light in the Piazza's Adam Guettel) and The First Wives Club.




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