Signature Theatre out of Arlington Virginia, will team up this fall with the Disney Theatrical to present a world-premiere musical version of Freaky Friday, with a score by the Pulitzer Prize-winning team behind Next to Normal, Brian Yorkey and Tom Kitt. Yorkey and Kitt also happened to be the team that created If/Then which starred Frozen’s Idina Menzel.
The show is based on the 1972 novel by Mary Rodgers — and two subsequent hit Disney movies — about a teenager and a mom who switch bodies. It marks the first time Signature will have forged a collaboration with Disney. The new musical, directed by Christopher Ashley and choreographed by Sergio Trujillo, is set to run from Oct. 4 to Nov. 13 on Signature’s main stage, with tickets going on sale July 1.
Having developed the title here at Disney Theatrical, we can’t wait to now share ‘Freaky Friday’ with Signature’s audiences and then to release the title for licensing,” Disney’s Tom Schumacher said in a prepared statement.
Following the Signature engagement, the show will move to the La Jolla Playhouse, who recently mounted Hunchback of Notre Dame for a January 2017 run. It will then be licensed to other groups. There are no current plans to bring the show to Broadway.