Bonnie and Clyde and Jekyll & Hyde composer Frank Wildhorn has adapted Virginia Woolf's 1928 novel Orlando: A Biography as a musical, with the work set to make its world premiere in the 2027-2028 season at Baden, Austria's Stadttheater Baden. The work features a book by Thomas Kahry and lyrics by Morgan Reilly, and is being produced by Austrian theatre company Bühne Baden.

A classic of feminist literature, the satirical Orlando follows a poet who changes genders over a multi-century life that sees them having run-ins with big hitters from English literary history. It also entered the public domain in 2024, meaning anyone can adapt the work now without having to get permission from Woolf's estate. 

The musical version will feature orchestrations and arrangements by Koen Schoots. Bühne Baden Artistic Director Andreas Gergen will direct the world premiere.

Wildhorn, a pop songwriter with Whitney Houston's "Where Do Broken Hearts Go" in his catalogue, is known to Broadway fans for his musicals Jekyll & Hyde, Bonnie and Clyde, The Scarlet Pimpernel, The Civil War, and Wonderland. In recent years, Wildhorn has focused his work internationally, premiering the bulk of his new musicals outside of the U.S. His Death Note, Fist of the North Star, and Your Lie in April, all based on Japanese manga series, have performed in Japan and the U.K. His The Man Who Laughs, adapted from Victor Hugo's novel, premiered in South Korea.

Casting and dates for the premiere of Orlando are to be announced.

This is not the first time Woolf's Orlando has been adapted for the stage. Sarah Ruhl, Neil Bartlett, and Darryl Pinckney have all written their own play adaptations. There are also two different opera versions. Wildhorn's version is the latest attempt to turn Orlando into a musical; another Orlando musical by Nora Brigid Monahan, Cynthia Saunders, and Tricia Dunn played New York last year.