Bruce Lee Martial Arts Musical in the Works; David Bowie to Pen Score? 2006/03/19

Bruce Lee Martial Arts Musical in the Works; David Bowie to Pen Score?

Sunday, March 19, 2006; Posted: 04:03 PM - by BWW News Desk

A new musical based on the life of Bruce Lee--possibly featuring the songs of rock titan David Bowie--is headed for Broadway.

According to Variety, the musical would be based on the life story of the iconic martial artist and movie star, who starred in classic kung fu films such as Enter the Dragon before dying tragically young in 1973 at the age of 32. Tony Award-winner David Henry Hwang (the upcoming Tarzan, M. Butterfly, Flower Drum Song revival) has been tapped to write the book of the musical, which is under development by the Chicago-based Elephant Eye Theatricals and is projected to leap onto Broadway around 2008.

Matthew Warchus, the director of the Lord of the Rings musical, will also helm the Bruce Lee show. "Bowie was spotted in Toronto yakking with Warchus," states the article; Lord of the Rings is currently in previews in that city. The rock legend--who wrote "China Girl" among many other hits--would make his Broadway musical debut with the Lee musical. However, Bowie's involvement has not yet been confirmed.

Another martial arts-heavy musical--drawing from the same source material as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon--is also in the works. However, that show would be "combination spectacle and musical with a cohesive (storyline)...Cirque du Soleil with a pronounced narrative, featuring the greatest martial artists," according to producer Harvey Weinstein. Producer and former Disney Theatricals executive Stuart Oken stated that the Lee musical would be quite different from the Crouching Tiger musical: "Our show is a legit show...No flying. No wires. No Cirque-type stuff. I see us doing something far more in the mode of The Lion King. Something low-tech." According to Oken, the Bruce Lee musical will play at least two tryout cities before hitting Broadway.

Producers Bob and Harvey Weinstein recently acquired the rights for Chinese author Wang Du Lu's Crane -- Iron Pentalogy. The fourth book in the series of five served as the inspiration 2000 Ang Lee-directed film, which sent its combative characters hurtling in the air amidst stalks of bamboo.

The Weinsteins, who recently departed from Miramax to form the new production company Weinstein Co., are also developing the Crane -- Iron books as a film series of three prequels and a sequel (which they hope to also be directed by recent Oscar-winner Ang Lee). The books--Crane Frightens KunLun, Precious Sword, Golden Hairpin, Sword Spirit, Pearl Light, Tiger and Iron Knight, Silver Vase--follow three generations of an adventure-seeking family during the Qing Dynasty. Tiger will not be remade. Released by Sony Pictures Classics, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon grossed $128 million domestically in 2001 to become one of the most financially successful foreign films of all time; it starred Yun-Fat Chow, Michelle Yeoh and Ziyi Zhang, among others.