‘The Princess Bride’ Musical: EGOT Songwriters Robert Lopez & Kristen Anderson-Lopez, Director Alex Timbers And Producer Jeffrey Seller Join Stage Adaptation In Development
Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony-winning songwriting duo Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez, two-time Tony winning director Alex Timbers and Hamilton producer Jeffrey Seller have joined the in-development musical stage adaptation of the beloved cult classic 1987 film The Princess Bride, based on the novel by William Goldman.
In development since 2019 – at least this iteration – The Princess Bride‘s then-producer Disney Theatrical Productions was teamed with Tony-winning composer David Yazbek (The Band’s Visit and, more recently, Dead Outlaw).
Other changes since 2019: director Alex Timbers has come aboard, and Jeffrey Seller is now producing. Still with the project: book writers Bob Martin and Rick Elice and music supervisor Tom Kitt.
It’s unclear exactly when or why Disney and Yazbek left the project. Deadline has reached out to reps for Disney and Seller for clarification.
The arrival of the new composers, director and producer was made public in an Equity audition notice for the project that lists the new creative team. The list was posted yesterday on the Broadway World website’s auditions page.
Among the awards on the shelves of Lopez and Anderson-Lopez are two Oscars (for the songs “Let It Go” from Frozen and “Remember Me” from Coco); three Daytime Emmys and a primetime Emmy (for Wadavision‘s “Agatha All Along”); three Grammys (for cast albums and soundtracks of The Book of Mormon, Frozen and “Let It Go”); and three Tonys (one for Avenue Q and two for The Book of Mormon).
Timbers Broadway credits include the current Just In Time, Beetlejuice and Moulin Rouge!, among many others. He has a Tony for directing Moulin Rouge! and a special Tony for David Byrne’s American Utopia.
Attempts to adapt director Rob Reiner’s 1987 film for the stage go at least as far back as 2006 when author Goldman teamed with composer Adam Guettel (Floyd Collins). The two eventually had a falling out, but then-producer Disney Theatrical continued its attempts for an adaptation, with possible collaborators at one point or another including Marc Shaiman, Randy Newman and John Mayer.
