Michael Arden and Douglas Lyons to Develop Happy Feet Stage Musical

The animated musical about a tap-dancing penguin will get the stage treatment.

March 31, 2026 By Diep Tran

Put on your best penguin outfit because Happy Feet is headed to the stage. Warner Bros. has announced that its 2006 animated musical about a tap-dancing penguin will be adapted into a live jukebox musical, with the hopes of eventually coming to Broadway.

The project will be overseen by two-time Tony-winning director Michael Arden (Maybe Happy Ending, The Lost Boys) and book writer Douglas Lyons (Chicken & Biscuits). The choreography will be by Ayodele Casel (Funny Girl), and Lauren Yalango-Grant and Christopher “Cree” Grant (The Lost Boys, Parade). Tony Award-winning producer Dori Berinstein (Legally Blonde, The Prom) is on the producing team.

The musical will feature songs from the film, which was made up of contemporary pop hits, as well as other chart-topping tunes.

Happy Feet encompasses a 2006 film and a 2011 sequel. The first film won an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, and a Golden Globe Award for the film's original composition, "Song of the Heart," by Prince. It follows a penguin named Mumble who can dance but is unable to sing a song enticing enough to attract a mate. He sets off on a life-changing journey across Antarctica. The first film featured the voices of Elijah Wood as Mumble, the late Robin Williams, Hugh Jackman, and Nicole Kidman. The original film and its sequel went on to gross more than $847 million worldwide.

The design team for the Happy Feet stage musical was also announced: Tony-winning set designer Dane Laffrey (Maybe Happy Ending, The Lost Boys), Tony-winning costume designer Susan Hilferty (Wicked), Tony-winning lighting designer Natasha Katz (Sweeney Todd), world-renowned puppet designer Basil Twist (Pee Wee Herman’s Playhouse), orchestrator/co-arranger Kenny Seymour (Ain’t Too Proud, Soul Train), and music supervisor/co-arranger Jackson Teeley (Alien/Nation).

The production timeline will be announced at later date. The musical is being produced by special arrangement 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 vice president and chief content officer of Warner Bros. Theatre Ventures, will serve as creative consultant, and the Happy Feet film director George Miller will serve as consulting producer. General management of Happy Feet is by Wagner Johnson Productions.

Visit HappyFeetMusicalnyc.com.