Cyndi Lauper and Theresa Rebeck's musical version of the 1988 film Working Girl will get a world premiere at California's La Jolla Playhouse in 2025, with performances to run in November and December (exact dates are to be announced). La Jolla Artistic Director Christopher Ashley will helm the new musical, part of his final season with the company before becoming Roundabout Theatre Company's new artistic director in 2026.
The musical has been in the works as far back as 2017, but much has changed since then. Smash creator Rebeck joined as the project's book writer in 2022, becoming the third announced writer on the project. Lauper also previously stated she was collaborating on the score with longtime songwriting partner Rob Hyman, though today's announcement credits music and lyrics solely to Lauper.
Directed for the screen by Mike Nichols, Working Girl premiered in 1988 and went on to receive the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture—Musical or Comedy and an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture. The film follows an ambitious secretary from Staten Island who facilitates a large-scale merger in the absence of her boss—by posing as her.
The musical is one of several world premieres in the California company's newly announced 2025–2026 season. The Heart—with a book and additional lyrics by Kait Kerrigan and music and lyrics by Anne Eisendrath and Ian Eisendrath—will make its world premiere in August and September 2025, also with Ashley at the helm. The work is adapted from Maylis de Kerangal's Réparer les Vivants, following a young woman over 24 suspenseful hours of waiting for a heart transplant following the untimely death of a young surfer.
The theatre is also set to give world premieres to some plays. Eliana Theologides Rodriguez's Indian Princesses, centering on a bonding program for five young girls of color and their white fathers, will perform in July and August 2025 with Miranda Cornell at the helm. Noah Diaz's All the Men Who've Frightened Me will take the stage in September and October 2025 with Kat Yen directing. The play, a La Jolla commission, centers on a trans man who decides to carry a baby after learning his wife is unable to carry the child they are both eager to have.
Also making its world premiere during the season will be a currently untitled play about TV chef Julia Child, adapted from Bob Spitz's book Dearie by Claudia Shear. Lisa Peterson will direct, with performances running in February and March 2026.
The newly announced season also includes Jocelyn Bioh's Jaja’s African Hair Braiding, a new addition to the Whitney White-directed Broadway production's previously announced mini tour, set to perform in May and June 2025. The company's annual WOW Festival will be held on the UC San Diego campus April 24-27, 2025, with The Unfair Advantage, a standalone WOW event created and performed by Harry Milas, to run February 24-March 23, 2025.
More details are at LaJollaPlayhouse.org.
