First Wives Club Musical, With a Score by Holland-Dozier-Holland, Still on Track for Broadway
(© David Gordon)
The First Wives Club, a new version of the musical inspired by Olivia Goldsmith's novel and the cult-favorite 1996 film, is on target for Broadway's 2015-16 season, producers Jonas Neilson, Paul Lambert, and Elizabeth Williams have announced. The show will be presented at Chicago's Oriental Theatre in spring 2015.
This rebooted First Wives Club features a book by Emmy Award nominee Linda Bloodworth-Thomason, the cocreator of the classic television sitcom Designing Women. She will base her version on the novel and Paramount Pictures film (which featured a screenplay by Robert Harling and starred Diane Keaton, Goldie Hawn, and Bette Midler), as well as an earlier version of the musical penned by Rupert Holmes.
Continuing to work on the score is the legendary Motown music-writing team of Holland-Dozier-Holland, who penned tunes including "I Can't Help Myself" and "Stop! In the Name of Love," among many others. The score will be made up of old hits and new songs. Simon Phillips is set to direct.
The musical First Wives Club first premiered in 2009 at the La Jolla Playhouse in a production directed by Francesca Zambello that starred Karen Ziemba, Sheryl Lee Ralph, and Barbara Walsh. No casting for the new productions has been announced.
