TV News

Pasek & Paul and Queen Latifah Headline New Musical TV Pilots from NBC and Fox

Pasek & Paul will help create ”Voice of the City”, while Queen Latifah will star in a new project from Lee Daniels.

Benj Pasek and Justin Paul will write songs for a new NBC pilot called Voice of the City.
Benj Pasek and Justin Paul will write songs for a new NBC pilot called Voice of the City.
(© David Gordon)

Tony-nominated playwright Claudia Shear (Tuck Everlasting) and Tony-nominated songwriters Benj Pasek and Justin Paul (Dear Evan Hansen) are developing a new musical pilot for NBC, set in turn-of-the-last-century New York City.

Voice of the City, which has received a script order, will follow a showman named Patrick and his love, Lucy, as they try to create a new life that revolves around show business in a new country. Shear pens the script and executive produces, with Pasek and Paul providing musical elements and also executive-producing. Bruce Cohen (Big Fish) is on the executive-producing team as well.

In additional musical-pilot news, recent The Wiz Live! cast member Queen Latifah will headline a new Fox project from Empire creator Lee Daniels. The yet-untitled show follows three young women who form a girl group with the hopes of making it big. Queen Latifah plays Carlotta, the owner of a beauty salon, and becomes a surrogate mother to the three singers. Newcomers Jude Demorest, Ryan Destiny, and Brittany O’Grady will play the central characters. The pilot goes into production later this month.

Neither production has been picked up for a full series.