The classic 1945 melodrama Mildred Pierce gets the musical-theatre treatment during a workshop at Stage West that begins April 15, reports the Fort-Worth Star Telegram.

Featuring a book and lyrics by Texas Christian University professor Richard Allen and music by pianist Tim Goergeff, the new musical will be workshopped at the Texas theatre for two weeks.

Allen, an Emmy Award-winning writer for his work on the daytime serial "As the World Turns," received a grant from TCU to work on his musical version of Mildred Pierce, which is simply titled Mildred!. The estate of author James M. Cain, who penned the novel, also granted Allen the rights to musicalize the work as long as no admission was charged for the run of the workshop.

Joan Crawford starred in the original film and nabbed her only Academy Award for her performance. The feature about "a mother's love that leads to murder" also starred Jack Carson, Zachary Scott, Eve Arden, Ann Blyth, Bruce Bennett, Lee Patrick and Jo Ann Marlowe.

Stage West is located in Fort Worth, Texas. For more information about the workshop, call (817) 706-6909. —By Andrew Gans