It seems like every preexisting property is getting turned into a Broadway musical these days. From cult Winona Ryder movies like Beetlejuice and Heathers to teen girl comedies like Bring It On and Mean Girls. Add some music and lyrics to a familiar IP and you’ve got a potential blockbuster stage show on your hands. The results are often a mixed bag, but occasionally bring us some truly iconic musicals. It helps when you have big talent behind the scenes, which is why we’re super excited for the upcoming Broadway musical adaptation of The Nanny.
Based on the hit CBS sitcom of the same name, the musical version of The Nanny is currently in development, with series creators Fran Drescher and Peter Marc Jacobsen set to write the show’s book. According to The New York Times, they’re collaborating with Crazy Ex-Girlfriend creator and actress Rachel Bloom to bring the show to the stage. Bloom will write the music and lyrics along with Adam Schlesinger, who composed the theme music and several original songs for Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. He and Bloom, along with Jack Dolgen, won an Emmy for their work on that CW show.
Brian Zeilinger and Scott Zeilinger will produce The Nanny musical, and Marc Bruni—who previously worked on Beautiful: The Carole King Musical—will direct. No other casting or creative roles are known at this time, but we can expect more announcements soon.
The Nanny ran on CBS for six seasons, from 1993 to 1999. It followed the zany, nasal-voiced Fran Fine, who becomes the unsuspecting nanny for the wealthy Sheffield family when she shows up on their Manhattan doorstep one day. Drescher developed the show with her then-husband Jacobsen as an update to The Sound of Music.
As with that beloved film, Fran grows close and eventually marries the children’s father, Maxwell Sheffield. In a bit of meta synergy with this new production, Maxwell is a successful Broadway musical producer (and rival of Andrew Lloyd Webber). We have to imagine this will wield some fun jokes in the stage version if they keep Maxwell’s profession in tact.
We hope the stage version also keeps Fran Fine’s iconic ’90s style, full of miniskirts and bright colors. We’re drooling picturing those fabulous costumes in a more exaggerated Broadway form. Fran would lose her mind knowing she’d get such a spotlight! Hopefully we’ll learn more details about this production soon, and what other talent will help bring Fran, Maxwell, the Sheffield children, and others to life. No word on a premiere date for The Nanny musical, but we’ll keep our eyes peeled.
Featured Image: CBS
