Tony-winning Come From Away director Christopher Ashley will direct the Broadway-aimed musical Working Girl, with music and lyrics by Grammy, Emmy, and Tony winner Cyndi Lauper.
Bridget Carpenter (11.22.63, Friday Night Lights) has also joined the creative team as the book writer, replacing New Girl writer and Tigers Be Still playwright Kim Rosenstock, who has withdrawn due to scheduling conflicts.
Based on the 1988 film and presented by special arrangement with Buena Vista Theatrical, the musical is slated to have an out-of-town developmental production during the 2021–2022 season. Dates and venue have yet to be announced.
Ashley, who is the current artistic director of the La Jolla Playhouse, previously joined forces with Carpenter on the stage version of Freaky Friday, which Carpenter later adapted for Disney Channel. Ashley will be represented on Broadway later this season as the director of the new musical Diana, about the late Princess of Wales.
READ: Cyndi Lauper Will Pen Score for a Broadway-Aimed Working Girl Musical
Directed by Mike Nichols, Working Girl received the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture—Musical or Comedy and earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture. The film follows an ambitious secretary from Staten Island who facilitates a large-scale merger in the absence of her boss—by posing as her.
The cast of the movie included Melanie Griffith, Harrison Ford, Sigourney Weaver, Alec Baldwin, Joan Cusack, Oliver Platt, Kevin Spacey, Jeffrey Nordling, Olympia Dukakis, and David Duchovny.
