The premiere staging in DC will be helmed by two-time Tony nominee Christopher Ashley with choreography by Sergio Trujillo (On Your Feet!). Performances are set to begin Oct. 4, running through Nov. 13 in Signature's MAX Theatre.
Kitt and Yorkey, the Pulitzer Prize-winning team behind Next to Normal and If/Then, reunite for this brand new musical comedy about a mother and daughter who swap bodies for a day. Writer Carpenter ("Friday Night Lights," "Parenthood") has penned the book for the updated work, to be set in the present day.
"When an overworked mother and her teenage daughter magically swap bodies, they have just one day to put things right again before mom’s big wedding," state production notes from the theatre. "Freaky Friday features a tuneful pop-rock score, befitting a work that has effortlessly updated throughout its several iterations."
The title was developed by Disney Theatrical Productions for licensing to theatres; with the rights already secured by theatrical licensor Music Theatre International (MTI.) They will be made available worldwide following the show's Signature debut.
"Signature Theatre is pleased to be teaming with Disney on bringing the world premiere of Freaky Friday to Signature," said Eric Schaeffer, artistic director, in a press statement. "With this terrific writing team of Bridget, Tom and Brian along with Chris and Sergio leading the charge, Freaky Friday promises to be an exciting new musical of the classic Mary Rodgers tale." Rodgers' beloved novel was first published in 1972, followed by a premiere film adaptation starring Barbara Harris and Jodie Foster in 1976. The second film version in 2003 starred Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan.
The Disney stage show received a developmental lab in April 2015. "We're doing a lot of work on [it]," Yorkey told Playbill.com back in March last year. "Freaky Friday was one of the first jobs that we went after once people knew who we [Kitt] were — years and years ago. I love it. We heard about it, and we were both like, 'We love that movie,' and both of us knew the book when we were young and had loved the book… So we really wanted to do it, and someone else got the job, which was a bummer, but that's the way it goes…Years went by, and things changed, and it turned out they needed someone different to work on it, so they called us back and asked if we'd still be interested, and we jumped at it."
Although Yorkey could not reveal the lab casting last year, he said that Broadway actors were involved. Read more here. Casting and remaining creative team members for the world premiere will be announced at a later date.
For subscription information and to sign up for priority tickets visit Sigtheatre.org. The Signature Theatre is located at 4200 Campbell Ave., Arlington, VA. For more information on licensing, contact MTI by phone at (212) 541-4684 or by email at [email protected].
