Oscar-Nominated Producer Picks Up Liberace Musical

A long-gestating Liberace musical is back on track, according to the New York Post. Producer Jerry Weintraub, who has since passed, had aimed to bring a Liberace bio-musical titled All That Glitters to Broadway in 2014.

Now attached to the project, according to the Post, is producer David Permut, who brought the Oscar-nominated Hacksaw Ridge to the screen. The Post was unclear on whether Permut's project would have the same creative team as Weintraub's. Broadway dancer-turned-impressario Alexander DeJong wrote the music and lyrics for the 2014 project. DeJong was set to direct and choreograph.

Regarding today's news in the Post, DeJong confirmed his continued involvement to Broadway.com and that the Post's report is about the same Liberace musical from 2014. "We'd postponed our project but we’re still slated to open next spring at the Orpheum Theatre in San Francisco,” said DeJong in a phone interview. DeJong noted that exact dates aren't set for a San Francisco engagement but he did confirm that he is the musical's composer, director and choreographer. DeJong collaborated on the musical's book with James Walsh.

The musical will follow Liberace (whose full name was Wladziu Valentino Liberace) starting with his childhood in Milwaukee, through his rise to fame as one of the greatest showmen of the 20th Century and ending with the controversial final chapter of his life, when the very-closeted star was diagnosed with AIDS. Richard Kline was set to play Liberace in his later years.