I Dream of Jeannie Musical Ventures Closer to Staging
By Robert Simonson
19 Aug 2003
A new musical based on the 1960's sitcom "I Dream of Jeannie" may reach the stage "soon," according to Sidney Sheldon, who created the series.
Sheldon was cagey about specifics, but told Playbill On-Line that "there continues to be an interest in bringing 'I Dream of Jeannie' to the stage.... It looks as though it may happen soon."
As previously reported by PBOL, Producer Scott Steindorff and Stone Village Productions have been granted the rights to convert the sitcom. Sheldon would be executive producer along with Michael Viner and Deborah Raffin. No composers, director or actors have been attached to the project.
"I Dream of Jeannie" ran on NBC from 1965 to 1970 and made stars out of Barbara Eden and Larry Hagman. Hagman starred as Tony Nelson, an astronaut who finds himself in possession of a magical lamp which contains a genie in the comely form of Eden, clad in silky pantaloons, fez and little else. Jeannie is so overjoyed to be released from 2000 years of captivity, she vows to serve Nelson forever, whether he likes it or not.
The show once sent network censors into conniptions over the situation of a beautiful, willing blonde living alone with a young bachelor—not to mention Jeannie's bare midriff (Eden was made to conceal her bellybutton). Presumedly, these once risque aspects of the story would be played up in a contemporary musical.
Steindorff wrote the Las Vegas Tommy Tune show EFX, while Sheldon penned the book for such shows as Redhead.
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