Empire Records Is Being Made into a Broadway Musical

Producer Bill Weiner has announced the acquisition of the theatrical stage rights to the 1995 cult-hit film Empire Records, with plans to adapt the story for the Broadway stage as a musical. The film’s original screenwriter, Carol Heikkinen, will craft the show's book, with an original score by 2018 Jonathan Larson Grant winner Zoe Sarnak. Empire Records is aiming for a 2020 stage premiere, in time for the film’s 25th anniversary.

Empire Records centers on the last of the independent small-town record stores, which employs a tight-knit group of music-savvy youths. Hearing that the shop may be sold to a big chain, slacker employee Lucas places a big bet with a chunk of the store’s money, hoping to get a big return and save the store. When the plan fails, Empire Records falls into serious trouble, and the teens must find a way to fend off the encroaching Music Town overlords. The film starred Liv Tyler, Renée Zellweger, Anthony LaPaglia, Robin Tunney, Rory Cochrane, Ethan Embry and Johnny Whitworth, under the direction of Allan Moyle.

"The movie was really about a family that formed among these minimum-wage record clerks," said Heikkinen. "There’s a lot of nostalgia now for those old record stores where you could go and talk to people who loved the same music you loved, and discover new bands. We hope the musical will capture the memory of what it was like to be young in a time before iTunes and Spotify. Music is such an important part of the youth experience, and it’s what brings these characters together."

"I first saw Empire Records when my older sister brought it home on VHS—I remember sneaking into the TV room while she was watching it with her friends," said Sarnak. "Over the years, I watched it again and again because that cast—those characters—were my idea of the coolest misfits: teenagers who loved music as much as I did, and still do. The film’s music so iconically captured the sound of that decade—a sound that has indelibly shaped my own aesthetic."

The musical’s director, additional creative team members and debut-production location and dates will be set at a later time. Look back at the film's original trailer below.