Yazbeck, Hwang, Sher Set for Elephant Eye's 'West' Musical

Producers Stuart Oken, Michael Leavitt and Five Cent Productions announced today that Elephant Eye Theatrical has reached its full capitalization of $8,000,000, added ten new strategic members and has three new musicals in advanced stages of development.

Formed in late 2005, Elephant Eye is a theatrical development and production company dedicated to the creation of new book musicals for Broadway.  The company's mission is to find and initiate projects, fund their genesis and ongoing development, and serve as lead producer when projects are fully staged.  

New non-profit members are The Raymond F. Kravis Center for the Performing Arts in West Palm Beach, FL; The Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center in Tampa, FL; The Carnival Center for the Performing Arts in Miami, FL; Proctors Theatre in Schenectady, NY; The Victoria Theatre Association in Dayton, OH; The New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark, NJ; Theater of the Stars and The Fox Theatre (shared) in Atlanta, GA. 

New commercial presenters are Broadway In Chicago, a Nederlander/Live Nation partnership in Chicago, IL; Dancap Productions, producer Aubrey Dan's new initiative based in Toronto, Canada; and Starmax, a leading entertainment organization in Seoul, Korea.

Along with the original five non-profit performing arts organizations that, as Five Cent Productions, formed Elephant Eye with Oken and Leavitt, the company now has a total of 15 strategic partners.  Five Cent partners include: The Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts of Hartford, CT; The Citi Performing Arts Center (formally the Wang Center) of Boston, MA;  Ordway Center for the Performing Arts of St. Paul, MN; The Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts of Philadelphia, PA; and The Pittsburgh CLO and The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust (shared) of Pittsburgh, PA.  

In a statement, producer Stuart Oken said "Three years ago, Mick Leavitt, David Fay (President and CEO of the Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts in Hartford, CT and Managing Member of Five Cent) and I began conversations about a creatively ambitious content company that would be owned jointly by a group of non-profit performing arts centers and passionate commercial entrepreneurs.   Today, we've concluded phase one of that initiative and now it's on to the work at hand - getting in the trenches and attempting to contribute to Broadway's rich legacy of musical theater."  

Elephant Eye has a current slate of projects including: 

- The Addams Family.   "A new musical based on characters, cartoons and sketches by the legendary cartoonist Charles Addams.  Rights were granted by the Tee and Charles Addams Foundation and marks the first time Addams' work will serve as the basis for a stage production.  Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice, writers of the 2006 Tony Award-winning Best Musical, Jersey Boys, are the librettists for The Addams Family, Drama Desk Award-winning composer/lyricist Andrew Lippa (The Wild Party) is writing the score, and Improbable Theater founders Phelim McDermott and Julian Crouch (Shockheaded Peter) will direct and design.  Elephant Eye plans to premiere The Addams Family in the 2009-2010 Broadway season, preceded by an out-of-town tryout," state press notes

- Bruce Lee: Journey to the West.  A musical that follows the mythic journey of two Chinese legends: martial arts star Bruce Lee and the beloved Chinese warrior god, The Monkey King.  The book is by Tony Award-winner David Henry Hwang (M. Butterfly) and the music and lyrics by Tony nominee David Yazbek (The Full Monty, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels) Bruce Lee: Journey to the West will be directed by Tony nominee Bartlett Sher (The Light in the Piazza, Awake and Sing.)  Elephant Eye is targeting Bruce Lee: Journey to the West for the 2010-2011 Broadway season preceded by one or more out-of-town tryouts.

- Saved.  Elephant Eye shares creative leadership with Playwrights Horizons (Tim Sanford, Artistic Director) on this new musical based on the acclaimed UA film.   Saved is set at a Christian high school where students, teachers and parents find faith in unexpected places.  With music & lyrics by Obie winner Michael Friedman (Gone Missing, Romeo & Juliet for Shakespeare in the Park this summer) and book & lyrics by Olivier Award nominee John Dempsey (The Witches of Eastwick) & Obie Award winner Rinne Groff (The Ruby Sunrise, "Weeds"), Saved will be directed by Gary Griffin (The Color Purple) and will open in Spring 2008 at Playwrights Horizons.   

Photo of David Yazbek by Ben Strothmann