Broadway May Be The Next Move For 'The Queen's Gambit'
March 08 2021 - 7:00PM
Dow Jones News
By Charles Passy
The Netflix Inc. miniseries " The Queen's Gambit" became one of
the streaming favorites of the past year, with viewers responding
enthusiastically to its story of a female chess champion making her
way in a male-dominated field.
The show, which attracted an audience of 62 million households
in the first 28 days after its October 2020 release, also sparked a
new interest in the game and a boom in the sale of chess sets.
Now, comes the next move: a "Queen's Gambit" musical that could
eventually land on Broadway.
Level Forward, an entertainment company that has produced films
and Broadway shows, said Monday that it had acquired the stage
rights to Walter Tevis's "The Queen's Gambit," the 1983 novel upon
which the Netflix show was based. Adrienne Becker, chief executive
officer of the company, said a Broadway-targeted musical was in the
works, though she couldn't say when it would be completed or who
would create it.
Nevertheless, Ms. Becker said the reaction to the Netflix series
shows the potential for the story to be theatricalized. "There's
something special speaking to people across genders, across age,"
she said.
Ms. Becker and Susan Schulman, the literary agent who represents
the family trust of the late Mr. Tevis, declined to provide any
financial details of the theatrical rights agreement. Ms. Schulman
said she felt there was potential for "Queen's Gambit," with its
story of fictional chess great Beth Harmon told across a span of
several years, that could go beyond the Netflix series and extend
to the stage.
"A good story is a good story," she said.
If it makes it way to Broadway in the next few years, "The
Queen's Gambit" musical will be something of an exception to how
Broadway works in terms of timing.
Most shows connected to films, for example, don't emerge until
at least a decade or even a generation after the movie was
released. Such was the case with a number of cinematic-based
musicals, including " Beetlejuice, " " Tootsie" and "Pretty Woman,"
that opened in recent years. The idea, according to theater
professionals, is that a Broadway show's marketing can tap into a
film's classic status and appeal.
While the "Queen's Gambit" musical would be derived directly
from the novel, it is clearly aiming to play off the popularity of
the streaming series. The challenge, say Broadway veterans, is that
the series may not prove to have had the same lasting impact by the
time the theatrical adaptation opens.
And yet, a "Queen's Gambit" musical could signal a change to
Broadway's approach, said Joe Christopher, a vice president with
RWS Entertainment Group, a New York-based company that specializes
in theater and live events.
"The industry is obviously looking to strike while the iron is
hot," he said.
The "Queen's Gambit" announcement comes at a time when Broadway
has been put on hold for nearly a year because of the coronavirus
pandemic, though producers are beginning to look at the coming fall
and winter as a reopening period. During the shutdown, many in the
industry have continued developing shows with the idea that
Broadway will inevitably return to its booming ways.
If anything, Mike Rafael, a veteran theater sales and ticketing
consultant who is developing three new shows at once, said the
break from the daily rigors has afforded some people in the
industry a chance to explore ideas with a clearer head.
"Instead of going from production to production, people can take
the time" to create projects, he said.
Write to Charles Passy at cpassy@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
March 08, 2021 18:45 ET (23:45 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2021 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX)
Historical Stock Chart
From Mar 2024 to Apr 2024
Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX)
Historical Stock Chart
From Apr 2023 to Apr 2024