It’s Today! : THE GREATEST SHOWMAN Comes Alive
Pat Cerasaro
One of the biggest surprise box office hits of the last several Christmas seasons, big budget original movie musical THE GREATEST SHOWMAN set audiences' hearts alight in its 2017-18 theatrical run, raking in more than $430 million worldwide after initially receiving many unfavorable reviews and getting off to an inauspicious start. Additionally, the soundtrack album reached #1 on iTunes in more than 77 countries, selling nearly 5 million copies to date and introducing a modern standard in the soul-stirring anthem "This Is Me" while also scoring Grammy Award nominations for both "This Is Me" and the album itself. This week, director Michael Gracey has confirmed that plans are currently underway to bring the tuner to the stage in an all-new live theatrical adaptation.
Michael Gracey revealed the exciting news of the Broadway mounting to Yahoo! News in an exclusive interview posted this week: "There will definitely be a Broadway musical at some point. Songwriters Benj Pasek, Justin Paul and I all workshopped the film very much like it was a stage production as a way of testing and improving it, both musically and narratively. It's an incredibly powerful piece when performed live." Previously, star Hugh Jackman and songwriters Benj Pasek and Justin Paul have hinted at a possible stage iteration in recent red carpet interviews and clearly that dream is becoming a reality.
While it will be difficult to corral the entire A-list original cast of the film for the stage version of THE GREATEST SHOWMAN - surely, Hugh Jackman, Michelle Williams, Zac Efron and Zendaya have a packed calendar for the next several years - the possibilities are endless as to who could embody the colorful characters depicted in the film live on stage. Plus, the opportunity to relive the spate of showstoppers in a packed theater with thousands of other fans would be a thrill for the film's millions of avid enthusiasts.
No matter when it happens, THE GREATEST SHOWMAN onstage is coming together and coming alive.