THE COURT JESTER: The Musical

This should probably be my last good idea before the board bans me.

Roger Bart
is

THE COURT JESTER: THE BROADWAY MUSICAL
should play the Al Hirschfeld in the near future

with
BETH LEAVEL as Maid Jean
MARC KUDISCH as Sir Ravenhurst
MICHELLE FEDERER as Princess Gwendolyn
WILLIAM YOUMANS as King Roderick I
MICHAEL McCORMICK as Sir Griswold
STEVE ROSEN as Sir Locksley
PAMELA MYERS as Griselda

and a fantastic ensemble that includes... their names should come later
Give me some good ones!

Based on the 1956 film written and directed by Melvin Frank and Norman Panama

Book by RUPERT HOLMES
Music by SYLVIA FINE
Lyrics by SYLVIA FINE and SAMMY CAHN
Additional music and lyrics by RUPERT HOLMES

Scenic Design by SCOTT PASK
Costume Design by GREGORY GALE
Lighting Design by BRIAN MacDEVITT
Sound Design by PETER HYLENSKI

Musical Direction and Vocal Arrangements by LAWRENCE GOLDBERG
Orchestrations by DON SEBESKY
Dance Arrangements by DAVID CHASE

Choreographed by JOEY McKNEELY
Directed by JOHN RANDO

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Let everyone else know about it!
Court Jester MUST come to the stage!

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Never thought of it? Well. Back in 2001, I tried to get the rights to it. I'd been dreaming of doing The Court Jester on stage since the early 70s. Paramount doesn't own the underlying rights anymore, so I went to the person who does - and wouldn't you know, someone else had "just" called inquiring about them. I then called Rob Marshall and told him the idea and he flipped - unfortunately, the timing wasn't good as he was just starting pre-production on some movie musical he was directing. Because I'd just recorded Little Me (which he'd directed), naturally I felt the perfect person was Martin Short. Rob called Marty, and HE loved it. But, I couldn't get any further with the rights, and gave up. Needless to say, whoever the loser was who'd mucked things up never got the rights and never did anything.

I would love to see this, if at all possible. This movie was my favorite Danny Kaye movie and, in my opinion, his best.

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Let's DO it! Maybe I'll find my file with the info and make a call.

I've always thought this would be a great Stage Musical with the right book adapter.



But my choice for the title role has always been Christian Borle.