Cameron Mackintosh Looks to Revive ‘Moby Dick’ on Broadway, West End

Cameron Mackintosh is planning to revive his stage adaptation of “Moby Dick” on Broadway and in London.

“I was dealing with someone who wants to bring Moby Dick out next year, an American producer,” Mackintosh told he London Evening Standard. “A production that’s going to open in London in a pub theater and there’s one being eyed up for Broadway in the next two years.”

The announcement of the revival is somewhat surprising since the original 1992 West End production is something of a famous flop. The musical centers on students at an all-girls school that stage an adaptation of the classic Herman Melville novel in a swimming pool. The Guardian wins the award for best pun of the day by saying that the show was “harpooned by critics at its 1992 West End premiere and survived for four months before shuttering.”

Producers Thomas Hopkins and Danielle Tarento were set to revive the show in 2011 at the Landor Theatre in London, but cancelled the musical after a major financial backer withdrew. Though the two producers have expressed continued interest in reviving the show, they said they were not involved in the new production.

In other news, Mackintosh also revealed that he is working on a revival of “Martin Guerre,” the musical by Claude-Michel Schonberg and Alain Boublil.

“Believe me, once we get it all right, ‘Martin Guerre’ will rise again,” Mackintosh said. “Good old shows never die. I keep them in my Lazarus locker.”

“Martin Guerre” is the third musical Schonberg and Boublil wrote following “Les Miserables” and “Miss Saigon.” The original production opened in July 1996, but closed for four days the following October to be completely revised. The new show went on to win the Laurence Olivier Awards for Best Musical and Best Choreography. It eventually played a total of 675 performances.