A musical adaptation of the biblical Noah's Ark tale is heading for the "Wonderful World of Disney."

Variety reports that ABC and Scott Sanders' Creative Battery are currently developing a musical version of the story of Noah and his ark full of creatures that will be a mix of live-action and computer-generated images. Sanders told the industry paper, "The story of Noah's Ark obviously has been told many, many times. The rationale for us to do it now is that we can turn it on its ear, while continuing to be respectful of the Biblical story."

Sanders is in the process of determining who will compose the score for the production, which is being penned by Chris Lynch and Loren Segan. He also hopes to eventually bring the project to the stage. "Our mission is to create and develop intellectual properties that have a live stage life to them but also have crossover media opportunities," Sanders said. "I have tremendous respect and admiration for what [Disney's] Tom Schumacher is doing with live shows," Sanders added, "and we'd be more than happy to work with him if he wanted to talk with us about doing that."

The TV version of "Noah's Ark" will most likely air during ABC's 2003-04 season. "Noah's Ark" will mark the third Creative Battery project, which includes Elaine Stritch at Liberty and the musical adaptation of "The Color Purple," now in development.

—By Andrew Gans