Musical Version of Rebecca Sets Broadway Dates; Sierra Boggess Eyes Starring Role

Rebecca, a new musical based on the classic novel by Daphne du Maurier, will bow on Broadway in the spring. The production, which is expected to star Sierra Boggess, will begin previews on March 27 and officially open on April 22 at a Shubert theater to be announced. Tony winner Michael Blakemore and Francesca Zambello (who directed Boggess in The Little Mermaid) will co-direct.

“There are things in the works, and hopefully I can say something soon,” Boggess, who recently wrapped up starring in London's Love Never Dies and is currently appearing in the Broadway revival of Master Class recently told Broadway.com. “It’s a new musical. I’m sure you know what it is, but I can’t confirm anything… I’m just going to see what the universe comes up with for me next.”

Rebecca features original book and lyrics by Michael Kunze, music by Sylvester Levay, English book adaptation by two-time Tony Award winner Christopher Hampton (Sunset Boulevard), English lyrics by Hampton and Kunze. Graciela Daniele is expected to do the musical staging for the show.

Based on the novel (and later turned into an Oscar-winning film by Alfred Hitchcock), Rebecca is the story of Maxim de Winter, his unnamed new wife (called “I” in the show) and Mrs. Danvers, the controlling and manipulative housekeeper of Maxim’s West Country estate of Manderley—where the memory of his first wife, the glamorous and mysterious Rebecca, still casts a shadow.

The musical had its world premiere in 2006 at Vereinigte Buhnen Wien in Vienna, where it played for more than three years. Productions of Rebecca have also played Budapest, Hungary; Helsinki, Finland; Stuttgart, Germany; St. Gallen, Switzerland and at the Imperial Theatre in Tokyo.

A successful industry reading of the show, starring Boggess, Hugh Panaro and Carolee Carmello, was held in March 2011.