RIALTO CHATTER: Will Sierra Boggess Lead REBECCA Musical on Broadway?

Michael Riedel reports in the New York Post this morning that Love Never Dies star Sierra Boggess will headline the 16 million production of Rebecca, The Musical, based on the eponymous Daphne du Maurier novel. Boggess also lead a recent industry reading of the show.

Rebecca tells the story of Maxim de Winter and his new life with his second wife (Sierra Boggess) and housekeeper Mrs. Danvers and the haunting memory of his first wife, Rebecca, at his West Country estate of Manderley.

The production was intended to play the Shaftesbury Theatre, but technical difficulties involving a water stream under the theatre has prevented a production of the show there. The show will now head straight to Broadway sometime next season, likely in the fall, and will be produced by Ben Sprecher.  Michael Blakemore directs.

The creative team for Rebecca, the Musical includes book and lyrics by Michael Kunze, music by Sylvester Levay, English book adaptation by Christopher Hampton (Sunset Boulevard) and English lyrics by Hampton and Kunze.

Rebecca began its world premiere, three year run, in 2006 at Vereinigte Buhnen Wien in Vienna.

Sierra Boggess will lead MTC's Master Class this summer. She comes directly from London's West End where she is starring in Andrew Lloyd Webber's Love Never Dies as ‘Christine Daae,' a character which she also played in The Phantom of the Opera in Las Vegas. Sierra was last seen on Broadway starring as the title character in Disney's The Little Mermaid (Drama Desk and Drama League nominations and Broadway.com award for Favorite Breakthrough Performance) and in the City Center Encores! production of Music in the Air. She has been seen regionally as Binky in Princesses (world premiere, Goodspeed and 5th Avenue Theater), and in the national tours of Les Miserables and West Side Story. Concert appearances include The BBC Proms at Royal Albert Hall, Lincoln Center's American Songbook Series: The Lyrics of David Zippel, New York Pops at Lincoln Center and Broadway by the Year at Town Hall. Sierra's television appearances include "The Today Show," "Good Morning America," "The View," "Entertainment Tonight," "The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade," and "The 62nd Annual Tony Awards." She also appeared in People Magazine and on the cover of USA Weekend alongside Megan Mullaly and Mario Lopez. Recordings including the Symphonic Recording of Love Never Dies and the Original Cast Album for The Little Mermaid. She holds a BFA from Milikin University.