'The Princess Bride' to become a musical, and more theater news

THE SHOW "The Princess Bride"

THE DEAL A stage musical version of the 1987 swashbuckling screen romance is being developed by Disney Theatrical Productions, as first reported by Broadway News. The creative team includes songwriter David Yazbek (“The Band’s Visit”) and book writers Rick Elice (“Jersey Boys”) and Bob Martin (“The Drowsy Chaperone”). More than a decade ago, songwriter Adam Guettel performed work on a planned “Princess Bride” musical with William Goldman (who wrote the original screenplay), which then fell apart in a dispute over royalties.

THE SHOW "Lizzie"

THE DEAL Lizzie Borden, who was famously tried for the 1892 axe murders of her father and stepmother and acquitted, will now have her story retold in this rock musical, which will play a limited run Off-Broadway at the Pershing Square Signature Center beginning in July. "Lizzie" received an off-Off-Broadway run in 2009.  The cast will include Shannon O’Boyle (“Kinky Boots”), Ciara Renée (“The Hunchback of Notre Dame”) and Eden Espinosa (“Wicked”).

THE SHOW "‘Angels in America"

THE DEAL An audiobook recording of Tony Kushner’s two-part drama featuring the full cast of the play’s acclaimed 2018 Broadway revival (including Andrew Garfield and Nathan Lane) will be released by Penguin Random House Audio on May 14. Bobby Cannavale and Edie Falco will supply narration. Comprised of two separate four-hour parts (“Millennium Approaches,” “Perestroika”) that combine realistic drama with trippy hallucinations, ghosts and monologues, “Angels in America” dramatizes the early days of the AIDS crisis in 1980s New York while also analyzing the public and private American institutions.

THE SHOW "Assassins"

THE DEAL Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman’s notorious 1990 musical, which examines the men and women who assassinated — or attempted to assassinate — U.S. Presidents will receive an Off-Broadway revival next season by Classic Stage Company, helmed by its artistic director John Doyle. The new Classic Stage season will also include “Macbeth” and repertory productions of “Dracula” and “Frankenstein.” Classic Stage is currently presenting Mark Blitzstein’s 1938 pro-union musical “The Cradle Will Rock.”