Wright and Feinstein On Board for Gershwin Biopic

By Adam Hetrick
October 30, 2009

Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Doug Wright is at work authoring a screenplay based on the life of American composer George Gershwin, according to Variety.

Dreamworks is behind the film that is being produced by award-winning performer Michael Feinstein and Marc Platt. Feinstein, who has recorded several albums of Gershwin's music, served as assistant to lyricist Ira Gershwin for six years.

The film will reportedly trace Gershwin's early years in Brooklyn through his untimely death from cancer at the age of 38 in Hollywood. Born to Russian immigrants in 1898, Gershwin was among the iconic Tin Pan Alley composers, and penned more than a dozen Broadway musicals including Lady Be Good, Oh, Kay!, Funny Face, Strike Up the Band, Show Girl, Girl Crazy and Of Thee I Sing, which was the first musical to win the Pulitzer Prize.

His numerous musical contributions also include the opera Porgy and Bess, and the works "Rhapsody in Blue" and "An American in Paris."

Playwright Doug Wright earned a Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize for his 2003 play I Am My Own Wife. He earned a Tony nomination for his book to the 2006 musical Grey Gardens and also penned the book to Disney's The Little Mermaid and the play Quills. He most recently directed his adaptation of Strindberg's Creditors, which premiered at the Jolla Playhouse in September. His screen credits include the Oscar nominated film adaptation of "Quills" and the upcoming film "Bunny Lake Is Missing."