Holmes is becoming one of the busiest bookwriters around. His other projects include the developing musicals Marty, Curtains and Secondhand Lions. Holmes won multiple Tonys for his musical The Mystery of Edwin Drood.

Silverwood Films, run by Lynette Howell and Doug Dey, will team with Paul Lambert and Jonas Neilson to co-produce. As previously reported, the show will feature a score by Eddie Holland, Lamont Dozier and Brian Holland, the threesome who created hits for Martha and The Vandellas, The Miracles, Marvin Gaye, The Four Tops and The Supremes. The songwriters will compose original tunes for the musical, which will likely feature some of their hit tunes as well.

Among the numerous hits penned by the team of Holland, Dozier and Holland are "How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You)," "Baby I Need Your Loving," "Stop! In the Name of Love," "You Can't Hurry Love" and "I Can't Help Myself."

The show will have a budget of $12 million, Howell said.

Francesca Zambello, the director recently signed to helm Disney's new stage production of The Little Mermaid, will pilot First Wives Club—The Musical. Zambello's directorial credits include the Bregenz Festival's production of West Side Story, the Metropolitan Opera's staging of Les Troyens and the Disney theme park version of Aladdin. The 1996 film "The First Wives Club" — about three divorced women who seek revenge on their former husbands — was based on Olivia Goldsmith's novel and featured a screenplay by Robert Harling. The motion picture grossed over $130 million and boasted a star-studded cast comprising Bette Midler, Goldie Hawn, Diane Keaton, Maggie Smith, Dan Hedaya, Sarah Jessica Parker, Stockard Channing, Victor Garber, Stephen Collins, Elizabeth Berkley, Marcia Gay Harden and Bronson Pinchot.

For more information, visit www.fwcthemusical.com.