Tootsie an 80’s Film that will make a Great Broadway Musical – Bring it on !
Hollywood Reporter has reported – A dispute has erupted over the forthcoming Broadway musical adaptation of the classic comedy Tootsie. A lyricist and composer on the project claim in a lawsuit filed Tuesday in New York Supreme Court that the producer is trying to cut them out of the project.
Scott Ellis is now the director, and David Yazbek has written the score for the show, based on the hit 1982 movie. Yazbek’s musical “The Band’s Visit” won rave reviews when it played off-Broadway, and is expected to reopen on Broadway next season.
The Tootsie musical has a working title, Dollface, and is currently being developed by Scott Sanders Prods, the producer behind such musicals as The Color Purple and a coming revival of Evita. According to the lawsuit, Scott Sanders Prods acquired the rights from the film’s original writers, Larry Gelbart and the estate of Don McGuire. The project is said to have been brought to the producer by Gelbart and David Zippel, who formulated the idea together and intended to continue working on it. (1) More and full article.
Tootsie is a 1982 American comedy film directed by Sydney Pollack and starring Dustin Hoffman, with a supporting cast that includes Bill Murray, Jessica Lange, Teri Garr, Dabney Coleman, Charles Durning, Geena Davis (in her acting debut), and Doris Belack. The film tells the story of a talented but volatile actor whose reputation for being difficult forces him to adopt a new identity as a woman in order to land a job. The film was adapted by Larry Gelbart, Barry Levinson (uncredited), Elaine May (uncredited) and Murray Schisgal from the story by Gelbart and Don McGuire.
In 1998, the Library of Congress deemed the film “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant” and selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry. The theme song to the film, “It Might Be You,” which was sung by singer-songwriter Stephen Bishop, whose music was composed by Dave Grusin, and whose lyrics were written by Alan and Marilyn Bergman, was a Top 40 hit in the U.S., and also hit No. 1 on the U.S. adult contemporary chart.
Video from the Sony Movie “Tootsie” Starring Dustin Hoffman, After watching the Trailer for the movie you can see how this would make a great Broadway Musical, not unlike Victor Victoria.
