Anonymous (Login LionsLight) 202.33.24.134 | Mandela, Bruce Lee musicals eye Broadway openings | May 21 2008, 5:17 PM |
Mandela, Bruce Lee musicals eye Broadway openings
Last Updated: Wednesday, May 21, 2008 | 11:24 AM ET Comments0Recommend0
CBC News
Producers have revealed details about two new musical biographies headed to Broadway, with stories about former South African leader Nelson Mandela and martial arts master Bruce Lee set for the stage in 2010 and 2011.
Mandela's daughter Zindzi is working on a memoir, which will recount her childhood during South Africa's Apartheid era and share stories of her father, who was in jail at the time. The forthcoming Mandela musical will be based in part on this memoir.
"I think it's the right time for the story to be told," Zindzi Mandela said in a statement on Tuesday, adding that the producers' choice of the musical format was an exciting decision.
"The freedom songs were so important to the morale of the people, so it's natural for the story to be told with music as a cornerstone."
South African theatre figure Welcome Msomi has signed on for the project, but the remaining creative staff yet to be announced.
Separately, a musical about Chinese-American action hero Bruce Lee that has been in the works for several years has enlisted a high-profile director.
On Tuesday, producers of Bruce Lee: Journey to the West announced they've signed on director Bartlett Sher, the man behind the current acclaimed revival of South Pacific as well as 2006's Awake and Sing! and 2005's The Light in the Piazza.
The Lee musical will combine the tale of the actor and martial artist's rise to fame with elements from the Chinese myth of the Monkey King. It will draw inspiration from martial arts, Chinese opera, pop music and dance, producers said.
M. Butterfly author David Henry Hwang will pen the book for the musical and the score will be created by David Yazbeck, who wrote the music and lyrics for recent shows like Dirty Rotten Scoundrels and The Full Monty.
Dou Dou Huang, artistic director of the Shanghai Song and Dance Ensemble, will create the choreography for Bruce Lee: Journey to the West.
With files from the Associated Press
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