Hayek, Biel, Morrison & Szot Headline Women on the Verge Reading—Next Stop B'way?

The starry quartet of Salma Hayek, Jessica Biel, Matthew Morrison and Paulo Szot played leading roles in a closed reading of a new musical adaptation of Pedro Almodovar’s Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown at Lincoln Center Theater the weekend of October 17-18, according to Variety. Bartlett Sher, director of LCT’s hit productions of The Light in the Piazza and South Pacific, is helming the project, which could make it to Broadway as early as next spring.

In addition to the four stars, Tony winner Joanna Gleason (Into the Woods, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels) and Mia Maestro (Alias) participated in the reading of the new show, which is based on Almodovar's Oscar-nominated 1988 feature film. The musical features a score by David Yazbek and book by Jeffrey Lane, who previously collaborated on Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.

Hayek played a Singing Nurse in Julie Taymor’s 2007 film Across the Universe, and Biel tested her musical mettle as Sarah Brown in a 2009 concert version of Guys and Dolls at the Hollywood Bowl, as well as in the recent feature film Easy Virtue. Glee star Morrison has worked with Sher in both Piazza and South Pacific and opera star Szot received a Tony for his performance as Emile de Becque in South Pacific. The Variety story noted that none of the four has signed on for a full production of the show.