ROY ROGERS is Coming to Broadway; New Musical Being Developed by Marshall Brickman

The Roy Rogers Family Entertainment Corporation, Happy Trails, LLC and the Spangler Group have announced that they will produce a new Broadway musical inspired by the life and music of the iconic Roy Rogers. Academy, Tony and Olivier Award-winning screenwriter and playwright Marshall Brickman (Jersey Boys, Annie Hall) is leading the creative team. The musical is aiming to begin previews in late 2014 for an early 2015 opening night.

"I'm excited to be able to introduce Rogers to a new generation - and to re-introduce him to his older fans," said Brickman. "At the height of his popularity, Roy had millions of fans worldwide and reigned for decades as the embodiment of simple, honest American values. It will be interesting to contrast that ideal with the current environment of ambivalence and moral uncertainty."

Happy Trails, LLC is a new joint venture developed by Larry Spangler (the Spangler Group) with the Roy Rogers Family Entertainment Corporation and The Roy and Dale Evans Rogers Children's Trust (Roy "Dusty" Rogers Jr., Trustee), to reintroduce the iconic Roy Rogers brand.

Roy Rogers was one of the most heavily marketed stars of his era. Between 1945 and 1975, the Roy Rogers brand, one of the first in entertainment to be broadly licensed, generated an estimated $1 billion in revenue derived from 88 films seen by an estimated 80 million people a year. The top rated Roy Rogers TV Show aired 100 episodes while selling 150 million comic books. Roy Roger's image made it onto over 2.5 billion boxes of Post Cereal.

Larry Spangler, head of the Spangler Group, and Happy Trails LLC CEO Wally Hoelzel have led the charge in developing this business deal. Spangler stated, "We believe Roy Rogers represents a billion dollar brand. His name and image will have broad appeal to people of all ages around the world."

Bill Wolfe, CEO of International Marketing Partners, the company responsible for executing the licensing strategy, added, "That belief is supported by the excitement of many of our manufacturing partners and key strategic retailers, already on board. We're introducing a broad range of products under the private 'Roy Rogers' label. We have over 100 new products in development and a number of products already in production."

Larry Spangler has brought together an experienced team including: Roy "Dusty" Rogers Jr. and Jeff Kramer, co-founders of the Roy Rogers Family Entertainment Corporation, The Ziffren Brittenham law firm and partners Sam Fischer and Gary Stiffelman, former International Creative Management, Inc agent and head of casting for Paramount Pictures Andrea Eastman; Jason Baruch of Baruch and Sendroff, LLP as Broadway council, advertising and branding legend George Lois, along with Stuart Sher, Happy Trails, LLC equity partner, with 40 plus years of experience in apparel, fragrance and branding.

Rounding out this executive team are music and entertainment business veterans: Bruce Glatman (Encore/Mama Concerts), Tad Dowd (Scotti Bros and Joe Namath's Namanco Corp) and legendary music producer, Bob Ezrin (Alice Cooper, Kiss, Pink Floyd, Peter Gabriel, Taylor Swift).