Casting Rumors for First Wives Club Include Peters, Mullally, Channing and Latifah

By: Jul. 19, 2005
FIRST WIVES CLUB
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Now that The First Wives Club has been confirmed as a Broadway-bound musical, the producers are scrambling to lure big-name Broadway and film stars to the show.

The New York Post's Liz Smith reported that marketing maven Paul Lambert (who will produce the show with Jonas Neilson) has his eye on a number of women who might fill the roles originated on screen by Bette Midler, Goldie Hawn and Diane Keaton. The actresses starred as Brenda, Elise and Annie, respectively, three women who aim to get their ex-husbands where it hurts most--the pocket. Lambert is considering approaching Bernadette Peters, Queen Latifah, Megan Mullally, Stockard Channing and Olivia Newton-John. While Peters (Gypsy, Sunday in the Park with George) is a bona fide musical theatre legend, Latifah proved that she could sing with Broadway bravura in the film version of Chicago, "Will and Grace"'s Mullally has starred on Broadway in Grease and How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. Film star Channing appeared in a number of Broadway musicals in the '70s and '80s (The Two Gentlemen of Verona, They're Playing Our Song, The Rink) and played Rizzo in the film version of Grease, just as Newton-John played Sandy in the same film.

Smith also announced that Francesca Zambello is likely to direct The First Wives Club; she is currently staging Porgy and Bess at the Kennedy Center and will direct the upcoming Broadway musical of The Little Mermaid. Lambert reportedly wants a female director for the show, to which a book-writer has not yet been assigned. However, the legendary Motown songwriting team of Eddie Holland, Lamont Dozier and Brian Holland (Holland-Dozier-Holland) will pen the show's score; the team is best-known for writing many of the hits of The Supremes, as well as Marvin Gaye, the Miracles, the Four Tops, and Martha and the Vandellas.

The producers secured the rights to the Olivia Goldsmith novel on which the film was based over the bids of others by creating a preliminary package and a vision that appealed to both Goldsmith's estate and Viacom Consumer Products. Viacom is the parent company of Paramount, distributor of the film, which grossed more than $130 million dollars. A theatre and dates for the show have also not yet been confirmed.

For more information, visit www.fwcthemusical.com.

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