Tony winner Cynthia Erivo (The Color Purple, Widows, Bad Times at the El Royale) and Tony nominee Josh Gad (Murder on the Orient Express, Frozen 2, Artemis Fowl) are teaming up for a Rip Van Winkle musical feature, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed. The two are developing the project for Warner Bros. with Amanda Idoko (Plastic Man) set to write the script based off of Gad’s idea.
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Rip Van Winkle was a short story written by Washington Irving, who also penned The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. The fictional tale took place from the time of the American Revolution that helped lend a mythic air to colonial America. The story, about a villager who falls asleep only to wake up decades later and missing the American Revolution, is perhaps best remembered as a cautionary tale of sleeping one’s life away.
Other story points also include that Van Winkle was not exactly a workhorse, he had a nagging wife, and he liked the sweet stuff a bit too much, on top of the nine bearded men who were playing bowling inside a mountain and were maybe the cause of thunder.
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Songwriting duo Kate Anderson and Elissa Samsel, who previously worked with Gad on Olaf’s Frozen Adventure, are attached to the project. Erivo is set to star in the project. Gad will produce alongside Dan Lin and Jonathan Eirich of Rideback. Ryan Halprin of Rideback will serve as executive producer with Erivo. Gad’s take on the Rip Van Winkle tale is currently being kept under wraps.
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