Jennifer Lopez Teams With Skydance To “Reimagine” Classic Musicals For Modern Audiences
By Ben Pearson/July 13, 2021 3:16 pm EST
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the deal with Skydance, Lopez, and Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas’ Nuyorican Productions fleshes out a preexisting deal made with Concord that includes the first-ever TV adaptation of Oklahoma!. The project is already being written by John Lee Hancock and Bekah Brunstetter and will be set in the present day.
They also have the rights to other classics like The Wizard of Oz, On the Town, 42nd Street, Hello, Dolly!, A Chorus Line, Bye Bye Birdie, Meet Me in St. Louis, and An American in Paris, so there are plenty of options for Lopez to choose from. Lin-Manuel Miranda’s In the Heights also falls under their purview, although considering that was just adapted into a movie for Warner Bros., it seems unlikely that we’ll be getting a new version any time soon. (Hamilton is owned by Disney, so don’t expect to see JLo as Angelica Schuyler, either.)
“Musicals were a part of the tapestry of my childhood,” Lopez said in a statement. “We’re so excited to begin our association with Skydance and Concord in reinterpreting some of the most classic musicals and bringing them to life in new ways for a new generation.” Exactly what creative choices they plan to make in order to modernize these stories remains to be seen.
