In recent interviews for "Wolverine," Jackman has revealed that the musical will receive a fall workshop, and if all goes well, Houdini could materialize as early as spring 2014.
A representative for the production could not confirm immediate Broadway plans, but stated that a fall workshop will allow the creative team to determine the potential for a 2014 Broadway arrival.
Tony winners Scott Sanders and David Rockwell are producing the musical about the life of the turn-of-the-century illusionist, which will feature Tony Award winner Jackman ("Les Misérables," The Boy from Oz, A Steady Rain) in the title role. It has a score by Academy Award-winning composer-lyricist Stephen Schwartz (Wicked, Pippin, "Pocahontas").
Tony-winning Hairspray and Coast of Utopia director Jack O'Brien will stage Houdini. Co-producer Rockwell (Hairspray, The Normal Heart) will also render scenic design for the musical. Kurt Andersen, who has been developing the musical over the last several seasons, serves as a creative consultant.
As previously reported, Academy Award-winning screenwriter and playwright Aaron Sorkin ("A Few Good Men," "The Newsroom," The Farnsworth Invention), who was attached to pen the book for Houdini, departed the show last winter in order to focus on other projects - among them a new, unnamed musical.
Sorkin's representatives have been working with Houdini producers to work out how much of his contributions will be incorporated into the future life of the production.