Global Broadway Productions Inc. to Produce Broadway-bound Little House, Rebecca, and Havana

Producers Ben Sprecher and Louise Forlenza have announced the formation of Global Broadway Productions Inc., a new production entity created to develop and produce new musicals for Broadway, the road, and international stages.

The company will be producing Little House on the Prairie, with a book by Rachel Sheinken, music by Rachel Portman, lyrics by Donna DiNovelli and direction by Francesca Zambello, which will have its world premiere on August 15 at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, with a Broadway bow planned for the 2008-09 season.
As previously announced, the Guthrie production will star Melissa Gilbert — who starred as Laura in the television series of the same name — as Ma, Steve Blanchard as Pa, Kara Lindsay as Laura, Jenn Gambatese as Mary, Sara Jean Ford as Nellie, Kevin Massey as Almanzo, and Maeve Moynihan as Carrie.

Global Broadway Productions also plans to produce the Broadway-bound musicals Rebecca, based on the classic Daphne Du Maurier novel, featuring book and lyrics by Michael Kunze, music by Sylvester Levay, direction by Francesca Zambello, aiming for Broadway in the spring of 2010; and Havana, a new original musical set in the days leading up to Castro’s takeover of Cuba, that features music by Frank Wildhorn, lyrics by Jack Murphy, and book by Pulitzer Prize winner Nilo Cruz, with a run planned for the fall of 2010 on Broadway.