‘Secondhand Lions’ Stage Adapation Comes to Seattle September 10
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A new musical adaptation of “Secondhand Lions” will premiere in Seattle as part of the 2013-2014 season of the 5th Avenue Theatre.
The new production will be the first showing of the company’s season, and will play September 10 – October 6. The new production features a book by Tony Award-winner Rupert Holmes and a score by songwriters Michael Weiner and Alan Zachary. Holmes won a Tony Award for “The Mystery of Edwin Drood.”
Here’s how the 5th Avenue Theatre describes the new adaptation:
This world premiere musical harkens back to a simpler time, when a boy’s imagination was all that was needed to turn a summer on a Texas farm into the adventure of a lifetime. The tall tales that his two irascible uncles tell him – stories of heroism, hidden treasures, and beguiling princesses – take our young hero to the sands of Arabia and beyond.
Scott Schwartz will direct the musical. He is best known for “Batboy,” “Golda’s Balcony” and “Jane Eyre.” No casting has yet been announced.
The musical is based on the 2003 film of the same name starring Robert Duvall, Michael Caine, Haley Joel Osment and Kyra Sedgwick.
Additional productions to be staged at the 5th Avenue Theatre next season include another new musical, “Room With a View,” which premiered in San Diego last year, but will come to Seattle as a revised work. The musical is based on the E.M. Forster novel of the same name.
“The show is very much in the spirit of the ‘Downton Abbey’ moment we’re having,” David Armstrong, artistic director of the theater, told the Seattle Times.
The company also will present its own revival of “Oliver!,” the musical by Lionel Bart based on the legendary Charles Dickens novel “Oliver Twist!” Recently, Cameron Mackintosh said that he hopes to revive “Oliver!” on Broadway soon, as well as make a new film adaptation.