Indianapolis, Indiana's Discovering Broadway will host a concert premiere of the in-development musical adaptation of A Beautiful Mind November 21 at Newfields in the Tobias Theater. The project, first revealed earlier this year, was commissioned by McCarter Theatre Center, and is being written by composer-lyricist Zoe Sarnak and playwright Sarah Treem.
Starring in the concert premiere will be Derek Klena (Jagged Little Pill) as Dr. John Nash and Krysta Rodriguez (Into the Woods) as Alicia Nash. Bryan Perri (Wicked) is serving as music supervisor and music director, along with penning orchestrations with Sarnak.
The project is giving the musical theatre treatment to the 2001 film and Sylvia Nasar's 1998 book of the same name, an unauthorized biography of Nobel Prize-winning mathematician John Nash, known for contributions to understanding of game theory, differential geometry, real algebraic geometry, and more. The project serves as the launch of McCarter's new works program, a multi-year initiative aimed at developing new musicals, comedies, and adaptations. The work becomes the seventh musical to participate in Discovering Broadway's incubator program.
"It's my great honor to be partnering with Discovering Broadway and Zoe Sarnak on the first incarnation of this new musical," says book writer Treem in a statement. "Zoe is such a rare American talent and I'm thrilled for the opportunity to re-examine the tale of the great John Nash with her music, and consider the possibility that his wife Alicia's fortitude, strength, and unwavering courage was equally as significant as her husband's 'beautiful mind' in their enduring love story.”
The musical is the first collaboration between Sarnak and Treem. Sarnak's past and currently developing musicals include The Lonely Few, Empire Records, Galileo, Particle Fever, and The Invisible Line. Treem co-created Showtime's The Affair, and has also written for House of Cards and In Treatment. Her stage works include When We Were Young and Unafraid, The How and The Way, and A Feminine Ending.
Tickets for the November concert are available at DiscoveringBroadway.org.
