PRACTICAL MAGIC Musical in Development, With Score From Norah Jones and Gregg Wattenberg

A new musical is in development based on the best-selling novel by Alice Hoffman and the cult-classic WarnerBros. Motion Picture, Practical Magic. The production will feature an original score by Grammy Award-winners Norah Jones and Gregg Wattenberg, a book by the New York Times Bestselling Author Alice Hoffman and Peter Duchan, and direction by Maria Friedman. Mark Kaufman will serve as Creative Consultant.

In a statement, Alice Hoffman said, “I’m so excited to be working with my amazing collaborators on bringing Practical Magic to the stage. This story of love and sisterhood is meant for the theater. Music is the heart and soul of Practical Magic, you can hear it as you read the book, even though it isn’t there. Now you will finally hear the story as I always imagined it. You will hear magic.”

About Practical Magic

For more than two centuries, the Owens women have been feared, blamed, and whispered about in their small Massachusetts town. Orphaned as children and raised by their eccentric aunts, sisters Sally and Gillian Owens grow up determined to escape the ancestral curse they inherited. Choosing opposite paths, the sisters try to outrun their past, until love, loss, and long-buried secrets pull them back together. Forced to confront their family legacy, Sally and Gillian must decide whether the past can be overcome—and how much they are willing to risk for love.

Practical Magic debuted as a New York Times bestselling novel by Alice Hoffman in 1995 and was adapted into the beloved Warner Bros. film in 1998, starring Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman. The enduring popularity of the story led Hoffman to expand the Owens family saga with three additional novels The Rules of Magic (2017), Magic Lessons (2020), and The Book of Magic (2021). A highly anticipated sequel to the film Practical Magic is set to premiere in cinemas on September 11, 2026.

RCI Theatricals, LLC serves as General Management for the stage production.

Biographies

NORAH JONES (Music & Lyrics) first emerged on the world stage with the 2002 release of Come Away With Me, her self-described “moody little record” that introduced a singular new voice and grew into a global phenomenon, sweeping the 2003 Grammy Awards including Album of the Year, Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best New Artist. Since then, Jones has become a ten-time Grammy-winner, sold more than 52 million albums, and her songs have been streamed ten billion times worldwide. She has released a series of critically acclaimed and commercially successful solo albums—Feels Like Home (2004), Not Too Late (2007), The Fall (2009), Little Broken Hearts (2012), Day Breaks (2016), Pick Me Up Off The Floor (2020), the live album ‘Til We Meet Again (2021), her holiday album I Dream Of Christmas (2021), and the Grammy Award-winning Visions (2024)—as well as albums with her collective bands The Little Willies, El Madmo, and Puss N Boots featuring Sasha Dobson and Catherine Popper. The 2010 compilation …Featuring Norah Jones showcased her incredible versatility by collecting her collaborations with artists as diverse as Willie Nelson, Foo Fighters, Outkast, and Herbie Hancock. In 2022, Jones launched her podcast “Norah Jones Is Playing Along” which features candid conversations and impromptu musical collaborations with some of her favorite musicians. In summer of 2025 she released a single, her first ever collaboration with John Legend, called “Summertime Blue.”

GREGG WATTENBERG (Music & Lyrics) is an American songwriter, producer, and musician whose work has shaped some of the most enduring hits of the past two decades. Since 2000, he has co-written and/or produced eight Billboard #1 songs and numerous multi-Platinum singles, earning multiple Grammy nominations and ASCAP honors. His credits include Five For Fighting’s “Superman (It’s Not Easy)” and “100 Years,” Daughtry’s multi-Platinum debut single “It’s Not Over,” O.A.R.’s “Shattered,” and Train’s global smash “Hey, Soul Sister,” which won a Grammy Award and ASCAP Song of the Year. He also co-wrote and produced Phillip Phillips’ multi-Platinum hit “Gone, Gone, Gone,” featured in The Amazing Spider-Man 2. Wattenberg’s catalog spans Top 10 and Top 20 hits for artists including the Goo Goo Dolls, Andrew McMahon, Gavin DeGraw, Finger Eleven, and Phillip Phillips, among many others. Beyond his songwriting and producing career, he served as Chief Creative Officer and later co-owner of Wind-Up Records, helping build it into the largest independently owned record label in the U.S. before its sale in 2013. He has collaborated with a wide range of acclaimed artists including Norah Jones, John Legend, Noah Kahan, Jason Mraz, Rascal Flatts, and A Great Big World. Gregg Wattenberg is currently the founder and Co-CEO of Artist House, the largest music studio complex on the East Coast.

ALICE HOFFMAN (Book) is the author of more than thirty works of fiction, including When We Flew Away: A Novel of Anne Frank Before the Diary, The World That We Knew, The Marriage of Opposites, The Red Garden, The Museum of Extraordinary Things, The Dovekeepers, Here on Earth, an Oprah’s Book Club selection, and the Practical Magic series, including Practical Magic, Magic Lessons, The Rules of Magic, a selection of Reese’s Book Club, and The Book of Magic. Hoffman’s newest novel The Witches of Cambridge will be released in August. She lives near Boston.

PETER DUCHAN (Book) wrote the book of the musical Dogfight, which had its world premiere at Second Stage Theater (directed by Joe Mantello). Dogfight won the 2013 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Musical and was also nominated for five Outer Critics Circle Awards (including New Off-Broadway Musical and Book of a Musical) and two Drama League Awards (including Broadway or Off-Broadway Musical). The London production was nominated for Evening Standard Awards including Best Musical. As a playwright, Peter was a 2011-2012 Dramatists Guild Fellow and a 2014 recipient of the Robert Chesley Playwriting Award. His period drama, Lavender Scare was a finalist for the 2010-2011 Princess Grace Award for Playwriting. Geva Theatre presented the play as part of its 2011 Plays in Progress series. Other theater credits include writing the books of the musicals The Illusionist (Nissay Theatre, Tokyo) and Stu For Silverton (Intiman Theatre, Seattle), as well as co-creating (with director-choreographer Warren Carlyle) a revue, Carefree: Dancing With Fred And Ginger (RKO/NJPAC). He served as Script Consultant for the long-running Broadway musical Waitress and Creative Consultant for Lempicka, which opened on Broadway in 2024. Film credits include co-writing the screenplay for Breaking Upwards (IFC Films), as well as the short film, Unlocked (Tribeca Film Festival, Gijon International Film Festival, etc.). He graduated cum laude from Northwestern University and lives in Manhattan.

MARIA FRIEDMAN (Director). Directing credits include: Merrily We Roll Along (Tony nomination for Best Direction, Drama League Award for Outstanding Direction of a Musical); High Society (Old Vic); Stepping Out (West End); A Little Night Music (Japan); Old Friends Sondheim Gala to honour the life of Stephen Sondheim. Four-time Olivier Award winner. As Performer: Sunday in the Park with George; Passion; Sweeney Todd; Merrily We Roll Along.