With dozens of castings announced and new projects coming down the pipeline each week across television, film, and theater, it can be near-impossible to keep up. Luckily, Backstage is here to help. Every Friday, we’re rounding up the week's industry news you shouldn’t miss so you can be sure you're firmly in the know!
Two pop icons are bringing new works to Broadway.
Grammy-winning music icons Cyndi Lauper and Cher both made ripples this week with Broadway announcements. Lauper, composer for “Kinky Boots,” winner of the Tony Award for Best Musical in 2013 (that is still running on the Great White Way), will pen the score for a Broadway-aimed musical adaptation of the 1988 feature “Working Girl.” Cher, meanwhile, took to Twitter to announce that the musical based on her life, which will feature her prolific catalogue of songs, will premiere on Broadway at an unspecified date in 2018. “Just got off phone w/writer & director of musical,” she posted on the social media site. “There will be performance in theatre with actors, dancers, singers!! It’ll be on Broadway 2018.”
The Monica Lewinsky-Linda Tripp conflict will play out on the big screen.
While all eyes are on the current political scandal, the major one from a few administrations ago is getting the film treatment. Amazon Studios has acquired “Linda and Monica,” which will depict the 1990s event in which Lewinsky confided in her friend Tripp that she had had sexual relations with then-President Bill Clinton, while Tripp surreptitiously recorded the confession before releasing the tapes. Todd Black, Jason Blumenthal, and Steve Tisch will produce the film (the trio had recent big screen success with 2016’s “Fences”). The script will be penned by Flint Wainess. Casting has not yet been announced.
Jimmy Buffett will chill out on Broadway.
“Escape to Margaritaville,” the musical comprised of the Jimmy Buffett songbook, has announced plans for a Broadway run. The tuner, which debuted recently at the La Jolla Playhouse in California, will open March 15 at the Marquis Theater (where Gloria Estefan’s “On Your Feet” will shutter in August). Christopher Ashley (“Come From Away”) will helm as director. Casting is to-be-announced, though Paul Alexander Nolan, Alison Luff, and Lisa Howard lead the show in its West Coast run.
“SpongeBob Squarepants” is ready for the Great White Way.
Another new musical which will bow on Broadway imminently: “SpongeBob SquarePants the Musical,” beginning previews Nov. 6 at the Palace Theater. The production, which features a multi-artist pop score by David Bowie, Cyndi Lauper, John Legend, and more, will include a book by Kyle Jarrow. Ethan Slater, who played the titular sponge in the show’s out of town run in Chicago, will reprise the role when the show bows in New York; it will be the actor’s Broadway debut.
A live-action “Cowboy Bebop” is coming to television.
The animated cult series is currently in development as a live-action adaptation, courtesy of Tomorrow Studios. The “space Western,” which originally aired in Japan from 1998–99, will be executive produced by Josh Appelbaum, Andre Nemec, Jeff Pinkner, and Scott Rosenberg (of Midnight Radio) alongside the studio Sunrise, which produced the original series. No casting is known at this time.
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