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!
1990s angst will set the stage ablaze.
Alanis Morissette has developed a musical based on her successful (and Grammy winning) album, “Jagged Little Pill,” and it now has a date in place for its world premiere. The show will debut at the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Massachusetts in May 2018, and will be helmed by Tony Award winning director, Diane Paulus. Diablo Cody of “Juno” renown will pen the book, making her own stage musical debut. Many shows which have previously opened at A.R.T. have gone on to Broadway including, recently, the Tony nominated “Waitress.”
Michelle Williams will feel pretty with Amy Schumer.
Oscar nominated Williams has signed on for “I Feel Pretty,” the feature film written by Abby Kohn and Marc Silverstein (who will also direct), and which Schumer has already signed on for. Schumer will play a woman who suffers a head trauma and believes she is under a spell that is making her beautiful. Her newfound confidence helps her to rise at the cosmetics company at which she works, gaining attention from its boss, played by Williams. The feature will be produced by Wonderland’s McG and Mary Viola, in addition to Voltage’s Alissa Phillips, Dominic Rustam, and Nicolas Chartier.
“Pretty Woman” is getting the workshop treatment.
An Equity casting notice was issued for an upcoming developmental lab for the Broadway-aimed musical adaptation of the Julia Roberts-starring feature, “Pretty Woman. The stage version of the 1990 film will feature choreography and direction from Tony winner Jerry Mitchell, while the score will be co-penned by Bryan Adams and Jim Vallance. The book will be courtesy of J.F. Lawton and the late Garry Marshall, who wrote and directed the original film, respectively. The lab is slated to run Sept. 11–Oct. 6.
Speaking of Julia Roberts…
The Oscar winner will, for the first time, star on a television series in HBO’s “Today Will Be Different,” which she will also executive produce. The limited series, set on a single day, is based on the book of the same name by Maria Semple, who will also write this small screen adaptation. Though this will be Roberts’ first outing leading a series, it marks her return to HBO, following her role in its 2014 film, “The Normal Heart.”
Kristin Chenoweth will get “Younger.”
The pint-sized Tony and Emmy Award winner will guest star on the fourth season of TV Land’s “Younger” (starring fellow Tonny winner Sutton Foster). Chenoweth will play Marylynne Keller, a woman who pitches a book about truth and perception to the publishing house at which Foster’s character works. The new season will premiere June 28.
Maggie Gyllenhaal is going back to kindergarten.
The Oscar nominee will produce and star in “The Kindergarten Teacher,” a feature film in which she’ll play a kindergarten teacher, frustrated with the monotony of her life on Staten Island, who risks everything when she becomes obsessed with a prodigious child in her class. The project will be produced by Maven Pictures, with an adapted screenplay by Sara Colangelo, who will also direct. Shooting is set to begin in New York July 10.
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