Dianne Warren musical in development from DiPietro and Marshall

OBSESSED, The Story of Diane Warren...so far, a new musical based on the incredible life of one of the most famous and successful songwriters of all time, is in development.

OBSESSED is a rollicking rock 'n' roll musical of passion, obsession, and determination. The story of an extraordinary "bad-ass" woman - a genius who wrote and composed the soundtrack of our lives.

OBSESSED includes Diane Warren's biggest hits and features an acclaimed creative team brought together by Ms. Warren including two-time Tony Award-winning book writer Joe DiPietro and three-time Tony Award-winning director Kathleen Marshall and producer Irit TenHengel.

A private presentation of OBSESSED will take place in New York this month.

Like the Sinatra musical in development, DiPietro and Marshall's involvement gives me haste. However, I like that this project is following the lead of & Juliet — that is, taking a lesser-known songwriter or producer and a disparate group of songs and crafting a narrative out of them (even though this one is autobiographical).

EDSOSLO858 said: "Like the Sinatra musical in development, DiPietro and Marshall's involvement gives me haste. However, I like that this project is following the lead of& Juliet— that is, taking a lesser-known songwriter or producer and a disparate group of songs and crafting a narrative out of them (even though this one is autobiographical)."

Lesser known? The woman has been terrorizing pop music for the better part of 40 years now. This is going to be terrible. An evening of treacly ballads and Rhythm of the Night? Why would anyone want to see this?

Now this is a project that has me curiously excited!

*punches mirror*

Edited to add: Calling it now, You Haven’t Seen Last Of Me will be the eleven o’clock number

Updated On: 12/5/22 at 04:26 PM

Why? How does Dipietro get work to right the book for musicals...he's a god awful writer. Sinatra and now this -wtf!? Diana's writing was so cringeworthy.

Well, he did WIN the 42nd Golden Raspberry Award for worst screenplay-Diana!

Updated On: 12/5/22 at 08:57 PM

I'm a little stuck on how do you tell a story about a person not ever falling in love, but writing a bunch of the most popular love songs in pop history? How would those songs ever be connected to the story or what any character wanted?

It seems an & JULIET would've made more sense.

Guess we'll see!

This workshop cast though!

https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Shoshana-Bean-Elizabeth-Teeter-More-to-Lead-OBSESSED-THE-STORY-OF-DIANE-WARRENSO-FAR-Industry-Presentation-20221208

Alright, curiously excited has been upgraded to totally pumped. If anyone can sing the hell out of those songs, it’s Shoshana Bean. I can already imagine the key change in Because You Loved Me.

The duel role of Cher/Trisha Yearwood already gives me hope that this will be a campy good time. A worthy follow up to Diana.

Updated On: 12/8/22 at 05:47 PM

Do theatre buying folks know who she is?

KevinKlawitter said: "That's a great cast. Goes to show how respected Dianne Warren is.



EDIT: Okay, what the hell...JERRY BRUCKHEIMER is a character in this show!?!"

Didn’t she write “I Don’t Wanna Miss A Thing” from Armageddon?! Just imagine how overwrought and hammed up a MT singer singing that song is gonna be, lol!

I'm not generally a fan of these jukebox bio-musicals. What I find quite curious is the difference here where the person that it's about is actually driving the show, (also new potentials from Dolly Parton, Pat Benatar, and I'd include Alicia Keys too) versus Tina, MJ, Beautiful, etc. where it was someone else's creative idea. I'd love to think they'll be better for it, but I actually think it may be worse as these folks are not used to working in this space.

I agree as others have said, people know Diane Warren's music but not her. Also, like a Beautiful Noise (which I hated), her story doesn't seem to be that compelling?

WestEndGal said: "KevinKlawitter said: "That's a great cast. Goes to show how respected Dianne Warren is.



EDIT: Okay, what the hell...JERRY BRUCKHEIMER is a character in this show!?!"

Didn’t she write “I Don’t Wanna Miss A Thing” from Armageddon?! Just imaginehow overwrought and hammedup a MT singer singing that song is gonna be, lol!"



Jerry Bruckheimer also produced Con Air which I’m sure is the basis for him being a character in this. Diane Warren wrote “How Do I Live” for the film and personally chose 14 year old LeAnn Rhymes to record the song, however the Jerry Bruckheimer/Disney wanted Trisha Yearwood to sing the song for the film because Rhymes’ version sounded too “Pop” and because she was so young so they rerecorded the song with Trisha. And then both versions were released on the exact same day and both versions were nominated for Grammy Awards (I believe the only time that ever happened in the history of the Grammy Awards?)! LeAnn performed the song on the telecast and apparently bombed and directly afterwards Trisha won the Grammy. LeAnn’s version would then go on to break records for how long it stayed on the billboard hot 100. Trisha’s version was simultaneously nominated for Best Song at the Oscars and Worst Song at the Razzies!


The drama behind this song will definitely be a included in this bio-musical!

FosseTharp said: "WestEndGal said: "KevinKlawitter said: "That's a great cast. Goes to show how respected Dianne Warren is.



EDIT: Okay, what the hell...JERRY BRUCKHEIMER is a character in this show!?!"

Didn’t she write “I Don’t Wanna Miss A Thing” from Armageddon?! Just imaginehow overwrought and hammedup a MT singer singing that song is gonna be, lol!"



Jerry Bruckheimer also produced Con Air which I’m sure is the basis for him being a character in this. Diane Warren wrote “How Do I Live” for the film and personally chose 14 year old LeAnn Rhymes to record the song, however the Jerry Bruckheimer/Disney wanted Trisha Yearwood to sing the song for the film because Rhymes’ version sounded too “Pop” and because she was so young so they rerecorded the song with Trisha. And then both versions were released on the exact same day and both versions were nominated for Grammy Awards (I believe the only time that ever happened in the history of the Grammy Awards?)! LeAnn performed the song on the telecast and apparently bombed and directly afterwards Trisha won the Grammy. LeAnn’s version would then go on to break records for how long it stayed on the billboard hot 100. Trisha’s version was simultaneously nominated for Best Song at the Oscars and Worst Song at the Razzies!

The drama behind this song will definitely be a included in this bio-musical!"



I remember all of this drama and despite Bruckheimer and Disney's insistence that Trisha Yearwood's version be included on the CON-AIR soundtrack over LeAnn Rhimes, it was LeAnn's version that topped the charts and was a huge, huge hit. Her version of that song was everywhere! However, I disagree with you that LeAnn's performance of this song at the Grammys was "a bomb", because it wasn't. She did however receive a huge slap in the face from her peers (and the industry) when right after her performance Trisha Yearwood won the Grammy for her version of the song. It was such an awkward moment. But, despite all that and after all of these years, it is Rhimes' version that has stood the test of time.

Updated On: 2/17/24 at 06:41 PM