Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown Will Land at Broadway's Belasco Theatre in October 2010

A musical version of Pedro Almodovar's Spanish film Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown by composer/lyricist David Yazbek and librettist Jeffrey Lane is headed to Broadway. Lincoln Center Theater will present the new tuner at the Belasco Theatre, with previews starting on October 2, 2010. Tony Award winner Bartlett Sher (A Light in the Piazza, South Pacific) will direct.

A screwball comedy that revolves around an actress who is jilted by her lover, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown was released in 1988, earning an Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Film and catapulting writer/director Almodovar into the mainstream. The film starred Carmen Maura, Fernando Guillen, Rossy de Palma, Julieta Serrano and, in a small role, Antonio Banderas. Almodovar was at one point in talks to create an English-language adaptation of the film to star Jane Fonda, and more recently, was rumored to be developing a TV series based on the property.

Yazbek and Lane previously collaborated on the 2005 Broadway musical Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. Two-time Tony nominee Yazbek was previously celebrated for his work on the 2000 musical The Full Monty.

A 2009 reading of the musical at Lincoln Center featured Salma Hayek, Jessica Biel, Matthew Morrison and Paulo Szot. No casting has been announced for the Broadway production.

Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown is set to officially open on November 4, 2010.