New Version of The Unsinkable Molly Brown on Tap in Denver

A new adaptation of Meredith Willson’s The Unsinkable Molly Brown written by Dick Scanlan and directed by Kathleen Marshall will be workshopped at the fourth annual Colorado New Play Summit in Denver February 12-14, 2009. The festival will also feature two world premiere plays and four new play readings.

According to a press announcement, Scanlan, the Tony-nominated writer of Thoroughly Modern Millie, is “completely overhauling” Richard Morris’ original book for Molly Brown, “based on his extensive research into Colorado and Brown’s colorful Gold Rush past. Never before heard compositions from the Willson trunk add luster to the already outstanding score.”

The original Broadway production of The Unsinkable Molly Brown opened on November 3, 1960, at the Winter Garden Theatre and played 532 performances, starring Tammy Grimes and Harve Presnell. No casting for Marshall’s workshop has been announced.

The Colorado New Play Summit will present the world premieres of Inana by Michele Lowe and Dusty and the Big Bad World by Cusi Cram and readings of Eric Schmiedl’s Eventide based on the novel by Kent Haruf, Rogelio Martinez’s When Tang Met Laika, Constance Congdon’s Take Me to the River and Julie Marie Myatt’s Flooded.