No Happy Ever After for Princess Bride After Creators Split

The New York Post's Michael Riedel reports an unhappy ending for William Goldman and Adam Guettel's eagerly anticipated musical version of The Princess Bride.

The Broadway-bound musical was to have had a score by Guettel, the Tony Award-winning composer and lyricist of The Light in the Piazza, and a book by Goldman, who wrote the book and screenplay on which the musical was based.  The writers recently went their separate ways due to a falling-out over show ownership and profits: "Goldman, who was writing the book, reportedly wanted 75 percent of the authors' share of the show, even though Guettel was contributing both the music and the lyrics," writes Riedel, who notes that Guettel is reportedly devastated over the musical's fate. 

Since Goldman controls the rights to The Princess Bride, Guettel cannot continue on with the project unless matters are resolved.  Guettel, whose other musicals include Floyd Collins and Myths and Hymns, had been working on the musical for about a year.

Of the partnership's end, Goldman commented: "That could be, but I wouldn't go there."  Goldman is the two-time Academy Award-winning screenwriter of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and All the President's Men, among others.  The Princess Bride, a fractured fairy tale romance that Goldman turned into an enduringly popular 1987 film starring Robin Wright Penn, Cary Elwes and Mandy Patinkin, is among his numerous novels. 

"Adam wrote some wonderful songs.  Maybe he can use them in another show," said one source of The Princess Bride, which was workshopped at Lincoln Center last month.

Photo - Adam Guettel