'The Bridges Of Madison County' Is Becoming A Musical

For all of you diligent fans who have been waiting with bated breath for "The Bridges Of Madison County" to become a musical, your time has come.

The romantic Robert James Waller novel about a photographer and a farmer's wife falling in love was originally published in 1992 and became a bestseller and then a film in 1995, directed by Clint Eastwood, and starring Eastwood and Meryl Streep. The film grossed over $175 million in theaters, and earned Streep an Academy Award nomination.

The New York Times reports that the stage musical version will receive a developmental workshop this month, with Broadway producers already attached. Kelli O'Hara, a two-time Tony award nominee for "South Pacific" and "The Light in the Piazza," will star as the farmer's wife. Bartlett Sher, who directed O'Hara in both of those shows, will direct. No word yet on who will step into the role made famous by Eastwood.

The book for "Bridges" was penned by Marsha Norman, a Pulitzer Prize winner for her play, "'night, Mother," recently revived on Broadway with Edie Falco in the starring role. The music was composed by Jason Robert Brown, who previously won a Tony award for "Parade."

No word yet on whether "A Thousand Country Roads," Waller's sequel to "Bridges Of Madison County," will become a film, musical, opera, or dance number.

Comments

[Fencik45]

05:01 PM on 12/05/2011

Can I begin stabbing my eyes out now!?

[JFaye]

04:49 PM on 12/05/2011

Love musical plays and Bridges is one of my favorite movies ... Hope the project does the book and movie justice.

[blastocyst]

10:57 PM on 12/04/2011

It won't interfere with my memories of the film. 'Bridges' looms-large in my personal pantheon of treasured memories; something as a dusty bauble which still sparks my imagination, gleaming mellowly when the light catches it. Clint was just the right age, grizzled and tender at once and Meryl's 'Francesca' lit the hollows of that bridge as she watched 'Robert' assess the light. I recall the excitement too that summer 16 years ago when 'Bridges' took the country by storm.

[VA Jill]

07:48 PM on 12/04/2011

I still say Sam Elliot would have been MUCH better than Eastwood.

[blastocyst]

10:59 PM on 12/04/2011

He ought to have produced and directed it.

[fwwest]

06:09 PM on 12/05/2011

I agree, Sam would have been perfect!

[Cassandra45]

01:33 PM on 12/04/2011

ARGGGGGHHHHHH! It's baaaaaaack! Make it go away!!!!!!

[kinogod]

10:15 AM on 12/04/2011

Please gawd no! Mainstream heater has now got the same MBA risk management disease as mainstream movies.

[Howard53545]

05:31 AM on 12/04/2011

Keep his shirt on!

[Kilgarvan]

05:42 PM on 12/03/2011

Horrible book, good movie. Eastwood and Streep were actually quite good together. Jason Robert Brown will do a good job.

[mburgh]

05:27 PM on 12/03/2011

Great, a horrible book, a terrible movie now will be a sick musical.

[MikeDu]

12:28 AM on 12/03/2011

Good grief. You do realize, don't you, that back in the golden age of broadway musicals people would walk into the theater NOT KNOWING all the plot points by heart? Imagine sitting down for the *first time* to a performance of 'Bye Bye Birdie' or 'The Music Man' or "Sunday In The Park With George". Doesn't that sound like more of a thrill than sitting down to a musicalized retread of Spider Man, or Frankenstein, or Hairspray, or... this?

[Reductio Ad Absurdum]

11:58 AM on 12/05/2011

I agree, but even if the show is based on an original story, the media-hype previews and critic reviews give away all the surprises.

[Gosford Gordon]

06:35 PM on 12/02/2011

one of my all time favorite movie!!

[Maitefa Angaza]

09:24 PM on 12/06/2011

Me too! I'm gonna give it the benefit of the doubt and hope for the best. Just to hear Johnny Hartman and Dinah Washington on Broadway will be wonderful!

[Michael Worden]

05:33 PM on 12/02/2011

I was skeptical until I read that Jason Robert Brown wrote the music, now I will give it a shot.