Two-time Tony winner Sutton Foster will star in a stage version of Loretta Lynn's Coal Miner's Daughter, currently in development. The project will bring the 1980 film and autobiography, tracking Lynn's journey from a humble Kentucky upbringing to becoming an icon of the country music world, to the stage, with a score made up of Lynn's greatest hits and new material covering her life beyond the film's ending.
The musical has some behind-the-scenes power as well. The creative team looks to be somewhat of a Fun Home reunion, with two-time Tony winner Jeanine Tesori providing music production and Tony-winning director Sam Gold at the helm. Lynn's daughter, manager, and producer Patsy Lynn and longtime advisor Nancy Russell will serve as consulting producers, with the producing team led by Kristin Caskey, Mike Isaacson, Bee Carrozzini, and ATG Entertainment.
Lynn sold more than 45 million records worldwide over her career, winning Grammy Awards, CMA Awards, and a Presidential Medal of Freedom. Among her repertoire are such classics as "Coal Miner's Daughter," "You Ain't Woman Enough," and "The Pill."
Lynn died in 2022 at the age of 90, though the project has been in the works since as early as 2012, when Lynn announced that Zooey Deschanel would play her in a Broadway-aimed production. That staging never materialized, though Caskey and Isaacson have both been attached as producers since that development. According to a statement from Lynn's family, it also appears that Foster had also entered the picture before the Grammy winner died.
"We are so grateful to see that our mother's life story and music will continue to touch the hearts of audiences and remain an important statement of the American dream,” reads the statement. “As one of the last creative projects our mom was so passionate about, we are thankful that she had the opportunity to experience the initial stages of Sutton's sincere portrayal of Loretta. Mom absolutely fell in love with her and thought she was just the right person to play her onstage. The family is moved by this incredible team's commitment to her legacy."
Foster will not be the first Broadway icon to take on the country music legend. Tony-winning Beautiful and Waitress star Jessie Mueller played Lynn opposite current Death Becomes Her star Megan Hilty as Patsy Cline in a 2019 Lifetime film about the relationship between the two superstars.
