Monday, March 18, 2024

Paul McCartney Ready to Conquer One More Challenge: He’ll Write Broadway Musical of “It’s A Wonderful Life”

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Paul McCartney had done everything except for…Broadway! So as Carole King’s show and others leave the Great White Way, Paul, at 77, is taking a stab.

He’s apparently written the basic songs for a musical adaptation of the Jimmy Stewart-Donna Reed classic movie, “It’s a Wonderful Life.” Lee Hall, who wrote “Rocketman” for Elton John, and the hit musical “Billy Elliot,” has written or is writing the script. Bill Kenwright is producing.

So now we’re going to have the famous dance hall scene– in which a dance floor opens on a swimming pool and everyone jumps in — on Broadway. They’ll need a big stage and a lot of water!

“Like many of these things, this all started with an email,” McCartney said in a statement. “Bill had asked if it was something I might be up for. Writing a musical is not something that had ever really appealed to me, but Bill and I met up with Lee Hall and had a chat and I found myself thinking this could be interesting and fun.”

They’re looking to open in London at the end of 2020, and probably the US in 2021. That’s fast, which means a lot of working has already been done.

McCartney is the king of melodies and hooks, so you can expect to leave the theater humming. Casting is next, but the movie is so well known, and McCartney is a five  star name, my guess is we’ll see some great theater stars rather than movie stars.

If Sir Paul wins the Tony Award in 2022, he will be a “GOT”– Grammy, Oscar,Tony. He has no Emmy Award. Yet. (By the way, someone should fix his IMDB entry for “Live and Let Die.”  He did NOT share it with the other Beatles. It was four years after they broke up.)

Roger Friedman
Roger Friedmanhttps://www.showbiz411.com
Roger Friedman began his Showbiz411 column in April 2009 after 10 years with Fox News, where he created the Fox411 column. His movie reviews are carried by Rotten Tomatoes, and he is a member of both the movie and TV branches of the Critics Choice Awards. His articles have appeared in dozens of publications over the years including New York Magazine, where he wrote the Intelligencer column in the mid 90s and covered the OJ Simpson trial, and Fox News (when it wasn't so crazy) where he covered Michael Jackson. He is also the writer and co-producer of "Only the Strong Survive," a selection of the Cannes, Sundance, and Telluride Film festivals, directed by DA Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus.
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