Movie Musical With Prince Songs in the Works | Playbill

Film & TV News Movie Musical With Prince Songs in the Works The film will not be a biopic, but will use songs from the Grammy winner's extensive songbook to drive the narrative.
Prince Courtesy of WB Records

Universal Pictures has acquired the rights to a number of songs by the late Prince and is developing an original movie musical, according to Variety. The internationally acclaimed, Grammy-winning singer-songwriter died in April 2016 at age 57.

According to Variety's exclusive report, the film will not be a biopic but a narrative feature in which the songs drive the plot (similarly to Mama Mia which uses the songs of ABBA to guide the story forward).

Troy Carter, the entertainment advisor of Prince’s estate will reportedly executive produce alongside Jody Gerson, Chairman and CEO of Universal Music Publishing Group.

There are no updates on whether a Broadway musical featuring Prince hits is still in the works. Following his death in 2016, Charles Koppelman, former head of EMI, who with attorney-manager L. Londell McMillan was handling the singer's entertainment assets, said that a Broadway musical was a possibility. Read more here.

Prince also worked briefly with playwright Henry David Hwang on a musical about Prince's relationship with an obsessed fan. You can read Hwang's account of the collaboration here.

 
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