The Princess Bride Musical - To Premiere in Chicago
The Princess Bride Musical - To Premiere in Chicago
The Princess Bride Musical - To Premiere in Chicago#1
Posted: 2/24/25 at 9:34am
The long awaited musical adaptation of The Princess Bride is expected to premiere in Chicago as part of Broadway in Chicago’s upcoming subscription series.
The Princess Bride Musical - To Premiere in Chicago#2
Posted: 2/24/25 at 10:47am
Is David Yazbek still doing the score for this? Between Dead Outlaw, The Roommate, Buena Vista Social Club, The Bedwetter, and now The Princess Bride, he has been working this last year like someone's coming to take his piano.
Broadway Star Joined: 8/11/05
The Princess Bride Musical - To Premiere in Chicago#3
Posted: 2/24/25 at 10:57am
Alex Kulak2 said: "Is David Yazbek still doing the score for this? BetweenDead Outlaw, The Roommate,Buena Vista Social Club, The Bedwetter,and now The Princess Bride, he has been working this last year like someone's coming to take his piano."
Not Yazbek. He was let go.
The Princess Bride Musical - To Premiere in Chicago#4
Posted: 2/24/25 at 11:03am
Wow. Can't imagine who they got if they FIRED Adam Guettel and David Yazbek.
Yazbek seems pretty perfect for the material, on paper at least.
The Princess Bride Musical - To Premiere in Chicago#5
Posted: 2/24/25 at 11:15am
This has been in and out of development for so long, it's hard not to be extremely wary. And the Yazbek / Rick Elice / Bob Martin team up was announced as being in early development in 2019, which isn't even that long ago.
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/20/13
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/20/18
The Princess Bride Musical - To Premiere in Chicago#7
Posted: 2/24/25 at 11:37am
To be clear — is this an unsubstantiated rumor you’ve posted? Because I see no press release, and it would be unwise to put any weight on a rumor that doesn’t even include the creative team.
It’s a great property for a musical. But maybe this property is just cursed.
The Princess Bride Musical - To Premiere in Chicago#8
Posted: 2/24/25 at 11:51am
ErmengardeStopSniveling said: "To be clear — is this an unsubstantiated rumor you’ve posted? Because I see nopress release, and it would be unwise to put any weight on a rumor that doesn’t even include the creative team.
It’s a great property for a musical. But maybe this property is just cursed."
From what I know, and I trust my ear, this is absolutely unsubstantiated.
The Princess Bride Musical - To Premiere in Chicago#9
Posted: 2/24/25 at 12:18pm
Adam Guettel wasn't fired. After James Goldman demanded 50% of the profits or something, Guettel said "f*** it" and stopped writing. This was like fifteen years ago.
I love the movie, and think it could make a great musical. It could also end up like Spamalot, which I like to describe as "the screenplay onstage with sh*tty songs inserted into it."
The Princess Bride Musical - To Premiere in Chicago#10
Posted: 2/24/25 at 12:22pm
Goldman demanded 75% of the author's share.
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/11/06
The Princess Bride Musical - To Premiere in Chicago#11
Posted: 2/24/25 at 12:29pm
So the project was only "mostly dead". We will have to see whether Miracle Max has indeed revived it.
The Princess Bride Musical - To Premiere in Chicago#12
Posted: 2/24/25 at 1:01pm
Losing Yazbek is a major blow. Very few people understand making a good quirky movie into an even better musical as well as he does.
The hit list of dismissed or disgruntled ex-writers on this one is growing! David Yazbek, Adam Guettel, Andy Karl...
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/4/07
The Princess Bride Musical - To Premiere in Chicago#13
Posted: 2/24/25 at 1:14pm
I've been dying for this to come to fruition, as I think it could be brilliant, but I agree that skepticism that should be heeded.
The Princess Bride Musical - To Premiere in Chicago#14
Posted: 2/24/25 at 1:54pm
Yazbek's musical style never felt right (in my head at least) for this material, which feels like it wants to be something lyrically shrewed but melodically sweeping, and more traditionally romantic. Adam Guettel felt like such an ideal choice once upon a time ago.
I just hope they don't enlist someone from the pop music world with little understanding of musical theatre to write this.
The Princess Bride Musical - To Premiere in Chicago#15
Posted: 2/24/25 at 2:53pm
Sondheim would've been perfect way back when, but of course Into the Woods already hits a lot of the same thematic and tonal elements.
The Princess Bride Musical - To Premiere in Chicago#16
Posted: 2/24/25 at 3:26pm
QueenAlice said: "I just hope they don't enlist someone from the pop music world with little understanding of musical theatre to write this."
It’ll be this.
The Princess Bride Musical - To Premiere in Chicago#17
Posted: 2/24/25 at 7:13pm
I think it’s the shrewdness more than the romance that this one requires.
Understudy Joined: 12/6/24
The Princess Bride Musical - To Premiere in Chicago#18
Posted: 2/24/25 at 7:20pm
I'm confused by the talk about Goldman. William Goldman wrote the original book, but he's been dead since 2018.
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/20/18
The Princess Bride Musical - To Premiere in Chicago#19
Posted: 2/24/25 at 7:23pm
It's admittedly not a far walk from what they've done before, but Tim Minchin & Matthew Warchus feel like the ideal combination for this show.
But David Yazbek, Rick Elice & Bob Martin also felt like an ideal combo.
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/20/18
The Princess Bride Musical - To Premiere in Chicago#20
Posted: 2/24/25 at 7:24pm
SingingEachtoEach said: "I'm confused by the talk about Goldman. William Goldman wrote the original book, but he's been dead since 2018."
Yep.
This musical has been in development for twenty years with at least two entirely different writing teams.
https://playbill.com/article/goldman-and-guettel-part-ways-on-princess-bride-musical-com-138615
The last producer attached to it was Disney.
The Princess Bride Musical - To Premiere in Chicago#21
Posted: 2/24/25 at 10:11pm
Score is Bobby and Kristen-Anderson Lopez.
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/20/18
The Princess Bride Musical - To Premiere in Chicago#22
Posted: 2/24/25 at 10:21pm
Anastasia_Beaverhausen said: "Score is Bobby and Kristen-Anderson Lopez."
Look, if that's true, I'm at least a little interested......
Who wrote the book and who's directing?
The Princess Bride Musical - To Premiere in Chicago#23
Posted: 2/25/25 at 1:56pm
Anastasia_Beaverhausen said: "Score is Bobby and Kristen-Anderson Lopez."
Can't wait to hear Buttercup's power ballad that ends act one. Five dollars says it's titled "As You Wish" and contains such lyrics as "They don't see the me inside/But I'll prove I'm no one's princess bride."
The Princess Bride Musical - To Premiere in Chicago#24
Posted: 2/25/25 at 3:11pm
Buttercup is going to be a hard character to write for, because her character arc in the movie was greatly removed by giving her less dialogue and less scene work (not that Robin Wright wasn't brilliant with what she was given). Buttercup, on paper, is vacuous and stupid, slightly befuddled by the chaos her beauty has thrown her and the kingdom into. It's intended to be satirical, a mockery of the "Disney damsel in distress" archetype, but... will that kind of satire play onstage without seeming cruel? Will they make her more active and intelligent? Or will they follow the film's lead and make her something more of a cipher, at the risk of making her the McGuffin of her own story?
The Princess Bride Musical - To Premiere in Chicago#25
Posted: 2/25/25 at 3:49pm
Yeah, that's basically the problem I am alluding to - the movie somewhat parodies old fashioned stock characters, and in "times such as these" the children are not going to accept Buttercup being a passive damsel in distress.
Really, the best time to have done this was in the late 00's and by Adam Guettel. It would have been great. Sigh.
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