Broadway Sensation ‘Hamilton’ May Be Headed To Big Screen, But Not As Filmed Adaption
It may be great news for fans of the Broadway show Hamilton, especially to those who love the music but may not have been able to afford the pricy ticket to see it, reports the Wall Street Journal.
“Hollywood studios are currently bidding for the big-screen rights to Lin-Manuel Miranda’s hit musical about founding father Alexander Hamilton, according to people involved in sales talks. But in an unusual twist, the Hamilton movie won’t be a filmed adaptation. Instead, it is a recording of the show made in 2016 with its original cast, including Mr. Miranda in the lead role.”
The opportunity to see the show with the original cast should certainly be welcomed news by those purists out there, as well as fans who may have seen it on tour or later in its Broadway run. The Broadway show has been an enormous success. Even now, with it being a few years since its 2015 debut, it is still one of the hottest tickets in town and at every stop on its tour around the country. But even more than that, it’s made American history cool with a younger generation. It’s rap-infused lyrics about the life of founding father Alexander Hamilton received a record-setting 16 Tony nominations, winning 11 of them including Best Musical.
While Miranda became a hit with his first musical, In The Heights, the success of Hamilton has opened up infinite opportunities for him. Not only does he have this film in a bidding war between Warner Bros. and 20th Century Fox, according to Cinemablend, he has plenty of other projects on the horizon, as writer Kaitlin Menza so aptly put it in a tweet.
“In the past week, you’ve announced a book deal, a new miniseries for FX, a new movie where you’ll make your directorial debut, and an arts initiative in Puerto Rico. You’re starring in Mary Poppins and have an infant son.”
Miranda quipped back on Twitter, “Well when you stack it up like that, yes, bit of a week. I could nap.”
The book deal is for Gmorning, Gnight! Little Pep Talks for Me & You, which is a compilation of his inspiring Twitter posts. He’s making a live-action movie musical of his first hit, In The Heights, though that did hit a complication. The rights were originally bought by The Weinstein Company before the Harvey Weinstein scandal took down the company. Luckily, Miranda was able to get the rights back. The miniseries he will be producing for FX is based on the life of legendary choreographer Bob Fosse and famed dancer Gwen Verdon. Sam Rockwell and Michelle Williams are on board to star.
