CMU School of Drama


Friday, January 27, 2017

‘The Devil Wears Prada’ Musical: Elton John, Paul Rudnick to Write

Variety: Fox Stage Productions’ brewing musical adaptation of “The Devil Wears Prada” has locked down two key members of its creative team, signing Elton John and Paul Rudnick to write the stage version of the 2006 Fox comedy.

7 comments:

Sabrina Browne said...

I am VERY EXCITED ABOUT THIS. The Devil Wears Prada musical is still in a very early stage of development obviously, but there is no reason as of now for this to be anything but a success. The success story of Waitress the musical will be a great resource for the DWP team to use. Waitress is another musical adapted from a very popular non-musical movie. Plus, if anyone can make something a musical success, it's Elton John.Both Anne Hathaway and Meryl Streep have been featured in musicals (Les Mis, Mamma Mia!, to name some). No casting predictions or timelines have been established yet, but it will be exciting to see if Hathaway and Streep will have any say or influence on the matter. Devil Wears Prada (the movie) had bigger stars and was an even bigger and more popular movie than Waitress, so I'm sure the hype and excitement will be astronomical. A challenge the DWP team may encounter is how closely they go off of the movie or where they choose to stray. The movie is not a musical, so the first big change is of course the element of song. It can be difficult adapting something that so many people already know and love, so many viewers and audience members may watch it without a completely open mind because they have an expectation of the movie. All and all though, I'm excited to watch this project take off.

Zak Biggins said...

I AM SO EXCITED FOR THIS!!!!!! WOW this is the musical i have been waiting for! I was surprised initially when I heard that Elton John was composing the musical because I imagined it with more of Laurence O'Kefee's style. This Musical will be successful no bout because of its jaw dropping story. It provides a comedic insight and representation of a society of designers. I don't know anyone who could be more sucessful at Miranda Prisely than Merly Streep. Wow, in my opinion, that was her starring role. I am looking forward to see who the creative team decides to cast. THE COSTUMES I CANNOT WAIT. I wonder wether they will have an abnormally large costume budget because of the designers being represented or if the costume designer will try to mimic the looks of timeless brands.

Vanessa Ramon said...

This is so exciting. I think that the movie was absolutely wonderful and with a great team to help write the musical version, I believe that there is so much potential for this production. There are those who might say that it is dangerous to take a production that has already been so successful and change it, but I think that this story really lends itself to a musical version. First off, the story itself is sort of like your average riches to rags/ defeating the villain/ success story that everyone enjoys. From there, it takes a look at the world of fashion which is the perfect environment for a song to break out. The only question will be in what moments will they choose to place these awesome songs? What will the characters feel like they must sing instead of say? Hopefully we won't have to wait too long to figure out.

David Kelley said...

I view this show with caution, that is not to state that I may not be a great show, but I honestly never liked the movie and view trying to turn the movie into a musical with a high level of skepticism. That being said the fact that Elton John is on board makes me hopeful for the production because if someone can find a means to pull songs out of plot that I personally can see supporting music it would be Elton John. I remain highly skeptical but to an extent hopeful for the production because maybe it will produce a awesome musical. I just not necessarily holding my breath.

Sarah Battaglia said...

Okay sometimes I like to forget that I'm a 20 year old girl and that I love everything cliche but I can't right now I'm so so excited for this piece. I am fully aware that it may not be good and that it probably won't be but I just keep picturing Meryl Streep walking out of the elevator and singing this hilarious song about how she is everyone's boss and one of Americas favorite characters and suddenly immortalized in song. It's a very exciting prospect, and I will continue to be hopeful for it. However, the professional in me is kinda sad that this amazing movie will now be tainted by a probably failed musical with some famous people who aren't talented enough to be on broadway. I always struggle when moves are made into musicals because sometimes it's so good but sometimes it fails so supremely that the movie almost can't make a comeback and I really hope that that doesn't happen to Devil Wears Prada but I have a feeling that it might. I failing is better than not trying at all, but some things might be better just left alone.

Megan Jones said...

Wow I am so excited for this musical!! Devil Wears Prada is such an amazing movie and I think it has great potential as musical. Elton John has already has two very successful musicals under his belt, so I can't wait to see that he does with this story. In terms of design this might be a challenge scenically due to the number of locations in the play, and all of the scenes on busy streets. The thing I'm the most excited about though are the costumes. When your show centers around fashion that it comes naturally that the costumes will be stunning. I'm curious to see whether or not they'll set the musical back in 2006 or whether they'll bring it into the new decade. By the time the musical actually opens the movie will be almost 15 years old, and styles have changed a lot since then. Although there's no official dates out yet I will definitely do my best to go see it when it ultimately comes out.

Claire Farrokh said...

I was just having a conversation the other day about how The Devil Wears Prada is one of the greastest movies ever made, a statement that some may disagree with, but I stand by wholeheartedly. That being said, I hate that every movie ever filmed is now being made into a musical. Stop making movie musicals please. It is very hard to find art that is original but at least it feels more original if it is not a huge hit movie already that you're just adapting to the stage and adding songs to. I really wonder where all the songs are going to be. I hope it's not another Ghost and American Psycho where there are inevitable big business, "Wall Street is evil and robotic" kind of songs (See: "More" from Ghost the Musical). I do love both Ghost and American Psycho though so maybe I'm a hypocrite in criticizing the big movie musicals. That all being said, I am very excited to see how they adapt this movie to the stage.