Broadway looks set to get a Happy Feet musical based on George Miller’s Oscar-winning animated feature about singing and dancing Emperor penguins.
Tony-winning Michael Arden is on board to direct a live stage version being developed by Tony Award-winning producer Dori Berinstein (Legally Blonde, The Prom). The Broadway-bound musical, based on Miller and Warner Bros. Pictures’ 2006 foot-tapping, CG-animated musical movie, also has on its creative team book writer Douglas Lyons and a choreography team that includes tap dancer Ayodele Casel, Lauren Yalango-Grant and Christopher “Cree” Grant (The Lost Boys, Parade).
The Broadway musical now in development will feature toe-tapping songs from the original movie and its dance-driven soundtrack, the project’s producers said. The original film and its sequel went on to gross over $847 million worldwide.
The design team for Happy Feet musical also includes a host of other Tony award winners, including set designer Dane Laffrey, costume designer Susan Hilferty, lighting designer Natasha Katz, along with puppet designer Basil Twist orchestrator/ co-arranger Kenny Seymour and music supervisor/co-arranger Jackson Teeley.
The musical is being produced with Warner Bros. Theatre Ventures, whose upcoming projects include adaptations of Crazy Rich Asians, Practical Magic and the current Broadway productions of The Lost Boys and Dog Day Afternoon.
Mark Kaufman, executive vp and chief content officer of Warner Bros. Theatre Ventures, will be a creative consultant, while Miller is a consulting producer. General Management of the Happy Feet musical is by Wagner Johnson Productions.
Happy Feet won the Academy Award for best animated feature film in 2007. The movie featured a star-studded voice cast, including Elijah Wood, Brittany Murphy, Hugh Jackman, Robin Williams and Nicole Kidman, among others. Its sequel, Happy Feet Two, debuted in 2011.
