John Legend is coming to Broadway.
He’s written the songs for a musical adaptation of Douglas Sirk’s 50s soap opera, “Imitation of Life.”
The great Lynn Nottage is writing the script from the original book and movie. Liesl Tommy, who directed the not great Aretha Franklin movie, “Respect,” is directing it.
“Imitation of Life” starred Lana Turner, John Gavin, and Sandra Dee. It’s a melodrama about race, among other things. The imdb summary reads: “Aspiring actress Lora Meredith meets Annie Johnson, a homeless Black woman at Coney Island, and soon they share a tiny apartment. Each woman has an intolerable daughter. However, Annie’s little girl Sarah Jane is by far the worst. Neurotic and obnoxious, Sarah Jane doesn’t like being Black; since she’s light-skinned (her father was practically white), she spends the rest of the film trying to pass as white, much to her mother’s heartache and shame. Lora, meanwhile, virtually ignores her own daughter in a single-minded quest for stardom.”
This should be interesting. “Imitation of Life” is in development, so we won’t see it before 2026.
