The previously announced stage version of The Greatest Showman has found a director-choreographer and book writer. Two-time Tony winner Casey Nicholaw (Some Like It Hot, The Book of Mormon) will stage the musical, which is based on the 2017 musical film of the same name starring Hugh Jackman. Tim Federle (Tuck Everlasting, High School Musical: The Musical: The Series) will pen the book, adapted from Jenny Bicks and Bill Condon's screenplay.
The project will get a world premiere try-out production in the U.K., playing the Bristol Hippodrome in spring 2026. Dates are to be announced.
Also to be announced is casting. Disney will hold open calls throughout March and April in Dublin, Belfast, Birmingham, Cardiff, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Leeds, Manchester, Exeter, Newcastle, and London. Further details about casting are at .
Nicholaw and Federle join a previously announced creative team that includes EGOT-winning song writers Benj Pasek and Justin Paul (Dear Evan Hansen), who wrote the film's songs (including the Golden Globe-winning "This Is Me") and are writing the stage musical's expanded score. The stage musical, being produced by Disney Theatrical Productions, was revealed at the 2024 iteration of Disney fan convention D23.
鈥淲e are continuously surprised and moved by how much the songs from The Greatest Showman seem to have resonated around the world, and to now have the opportunity to bring them to the stage is truly thrilling," says Pasek and Paul in a statement.
鈥淚t has been decades since an original film musical has been as passionately and broadly embraced as The Greatest Showman, and Benj Pasek and Justin Paul鈥檚 songs have found a treasured place in the world鈥檚 heart," adds Disney Theatrical Group producers Andrew Flatt, Anne Quart, and Thomas Schumacher in a joint statement. "Audiences responded to the film鈥檚 joyful energy and themes of self-discovery, community, and the families we create. We鈥檙e excited to bring it to the stage as a purely theatrical piece and the natural next chapter in its extraordinary life. We cannot wait to see how this incredibly talented team of creatives elevate the beloved work still further. Tim Federle is among the new generation of Disney storytellers, returning to Broadway after remarkable success in film and television. Casey Nicholaw, a longtime key contributor to Disney Theatrical Group鈥檚 success, has an unrivaled genius for combining joy and heart in his award-winning stage work. Now we begin the search for the performers who will bring this story to life on stage."
The fan favorite 2017 film starred Hugh Jackman as real-world circus impresario P.T. Barnum, with the plot following his journey creating the iconic and long-running circus show with a group of unlikely performers. The forthcoming stage musical will be the second stage musical about Barnum's life, following Cy Coleman, Mark Bramble, and Michael Stewart's Barnum, which premiered on Broadway in 1980.
Quart also told that she doesn't expect any of the film's cast to repeat their performances in the stage production. 鈥淟ook, we haven鈥檛 finished casting, so it鈥檚 hard," Quart explained. "I can鈥檛 say anything for sure. But it isn鈥檛 our intention that anyone from the film will be in the musical.鈥�
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