Academy Award winning 1973 movie ‘The Sting’ is heading to Broadway as a musical starring Harry Connick Jr. (Photo: Studio)
Harry Connick Jr., a veteran Broadway stage actor, has his eyes set on the Great White Way, again. He’ll star in the an musical adaption of the iconic 1973 film “The Sting.” The musical will bow next month at New Jersey’s Paper Mill Playhouse, with an eye on jumping to Broadway later.
Harry Connick Jr. will star in a Broadway adaption of the iconic 1973 movie ‘The Sting.’
The movie starred Paul Newman as Henry Gondorff, a grifter who teams up with another con man to hatch an elaborate plot against a mob boss. Robert Redford played his cohort Johnny “Kelly Hooker.
No word yet on who will reprise Redford’s role, or if it will be included in the musical.
The film, set in Chicago during the Great Depression, was nominated for 10 Academy Awards. It won Best Picture, Best Director and Best Original Screenplay.
The musical’s book is by Bob Martin, with music and lyrics by Connick, Mark Hollmann and Greg Kotis. The rest of the cast is still to be announced.
The film lends itself well to the stage.
Marvin Hamlisch composed the score drawing from ragtime composer Scott Joplin. Hamlisch’s arrangement of “The Entertainer” reached No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1974. The song created a nationwide resurgence in Joplin’s work, according to Playbill.
The stage adaptation will also reprise Joplin’s music, including “The Entertainer.”
The Araca Group, Matthew Gross Entertainment and Universal Theatrical Group, through a special arrangement will produced the Broadway show.