
Will Ferrell adapting 'Eurovision' movie as Broadway stage musical
June 5 (UPI) -- Will Ferrell has announced he is adapting his 2020 movie, Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga, as a Broadway stage musical.
The beloved film stars Ferrell and Rachel McAdams as aspiring Icelandic pop stars who finally get their big break through the famed Eurovision Song Contest.
Ferrell is writing the book for the show with Harper Steele, co-writer of the film, and Anthony King, the author of the musical production of Beetlejuice.
"We are more than excited to bring Eurovision to Broadway," Ferrell said in a statement Wednesday.
"The stage musical is a perfect place to continue our celebration of all the things we love about this amazing and unifying song competition."
Savan Kotecha, an executive music producer on the film, is penning the music for the stage show and Alex Timbers -- whose credits include Moulin Rouge and Just in Time -- is directing the project.
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Luke Antony Neville, left, and Lucas Hallauer, right, in "Back to the Future." McLeod9 Creative Advertisement However, as they met with potential producers, they faced skepticism. 'We thought, 'This is going to be easy! Everybody and their uncle ought to be lining up to do this,'' Gale says. 'But it wasn't like that. They'd always say, 'Well, you guys have never done musical theater before. What makes you think you can do it?' And we'd say, 'Well, we invented the franchise! We know a whole lot about these characters and the story.'' Advertisement After a long-and-winding development path, 'Back to the Future: The Musical' finally bowed in Manchester, England, in 2020 before opening in London the following year, where it won the Olivier Award for Best Musical. Broadway beckoned in 2023, and now its national tour speeds into the Citizens Opera House, July 8-20, presented by Broadway in Boston, on the heels of the film's 40th anniversary on July 3. But as with the paradox that Marty unleashes by time-traveling back to 1955 and nearly screwing up his parents' courtship, the musical headed to Boston would've been erased from existence if not for a few 'sliding doors' moments. It all started with a storm that flooded screenwriter Bob Gale's childhood home in St. Louis. While helping his parents clean out the basement, he found his father's high school yearbook and saw his picture as senior class president. 'I thought about the president of my class, who was one of these rah-rah school spirit guys who I would've had nothing to do with,' Gale recalls. 'And I wondered, 'Was my dad that kind of guy? Would I have been friends with my dad if I'd gone to high school with him?'' As he stared at the photo, a lightning-bolt thought struck him: What if I could go back and meet my father back then? 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Many of the movie's famous lines and classic moments remain, but other aspects were altered or excised. So you'll see the DeLorean fly and Doc declare, 'Roads? Where we're going, we don't need roads.' Lorraine ( With a musical, though, you can crack open the characters' hearts and inner-lives in song. Silvestri and Ballard wrote a heartfelt second act number for Doc Brown (David Josefsberg), 'For the Dreamers,' where he sings about creative visionaries, both the famous and the failed, who have big ideas and 'never stop believing in them.' 'Musical theater gave us a way to really go deep into Doc Brown's head,' Gale says. 'And because Doc Brown sings, he automatically becomes a warmer character.' Advertisement They wrote a 1950s-style doo-wop number, 'Pretty Baby,' for Marty's mother Lorraine to sing in the 1955 timeline to the handsome young stranger asleep in her bed, as Marty nervously fends off her advances. 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That meant leaning into the innovative magic of Tim Hatley's scenic design, Finn Ross' video design, and Chris Fisher's theatrical illusions. 'It's really spectacular,' Gale says. 'I think we raised the bar on what you could do on stage.' Of course, they worried about disappointing fans with a stage version that didn't live up to the film. But Gale says that most fans he's encountered have adored the show, including one woman in London who told him she quit therapy and instead spent that money on tickets to see 'Back to the Future' every week—and she's happier for it. Advertisement Gale speculates that the story continues to resonate 40 years later because it captures the moment in every child's life when 'they suddenly understand that my parents were once young like me. That's a cosmic idea.' It also powerfully illustrates how one decision in life can have far-reaching effects. 'We see these two different timelines for the McFly family—one where George stands up for himself, and one is where George wimps out. So it's a good reminder to people to say, 'The things that I do in my life matter. This may be an important decision I'm making, and I need to give it thought.' BACK TO THE FUTURE Presented by Broadway in Boston. At: Citizens Opera House, July 8-20. Tickets: from $40;