- Share this article on Facebook
- Share this article on Twitter
- Share this article on Flipboard
- Share this article on Email
- Show additional share options
- Share this article on Linkedin
- Share this article on Pinit
- Share this article on Reddit
- Share this article on Tumblr
- Share this article on Whatsapp
- Share this article on Print
- Share this article on Comment
NEW YORK — The musical adaptation of Robert James Waller‘s best-selling novel The Bridges of Madison County, will come to Broadway in January 2014, staged by Tony-winning director Bartlett Sher.
The story of a short-lived but intense love affair between a lonely Iowa housewife and a weathered National Geographic photographer was adapted for the screen in 1995 in a version directed by Clint Eastwood, who also starred alongside Meryl Streep.
The musical has a book by Pulitzer Prize winner Marsha Norman (‘night, Mother, The Secret Garden) with music and lyrics by Jason Robert Brown (Parade, The Last Five Years). The show will be test-driven this summer in a Williamstown Theatre Festival staging running Aug. 1-18, starring Steven Pasquale (Rescue Me) and Elena Shaddow.
Pasquale is currently appearing in the off-Broadway musical premiere Far From Heaven, opposite Kelli O’Hara, who has been rumored to be attached to Madison County should its New York plans move forward. However, no casting has been announced for the Broadway production.
One of New York’s most consistent stage directors, Sher is nominated for a Tony Award this year for the Lincoln Center Theater revival of Clifford Odets‘ Golden Boy. He won a directing Tony in 2008 for South Pacific, starring O’Hara, Paulo Szot and Matthew Morrison. The director was also nominated in 2005 for The Light in the Piazza, in 2006 for Awake and Sing! and in 2009 for Joe Turner’s Come and Gone.
Sher will reteam with frequent design collaborators Michael Yeargan (sets), Catherine Zuber (costumes) and Donald Holder (lighting) on Madison County.
Lead producers on the show are Jeffrey Richards, Stacey Mindich and Jerry Frankel, with Warner Bros. Theatre Ventures among secondary producers. While no specific dates have been set, previews are expected to begin in January for a late-February official opening.
THR Newsletters
Sign up for THR news straight to your inbox every day