A Girls Just Want to Have Fun Musical is in the Works

A musical adaptation of Girls Just Want to Have Fun, the gloriously cheesy 1985 teen comedy starring Sarah Jessica Parker and Helen Hunt, is in the works, Variety has announced.

The show is to be based on the film’s screenplay by Amy Spies and will feature a score of ’80s hits, including the one made famous by Cyndi Lauper that inspired the title.

According to the report in Variety, the music and lyrics will likely be sourced from the catalog of pop favorites owned by Primary Wave, a private music publishing and talent management company founded by music executive Lawrence Mestel. Primary Wave is home to such beloved ’80s artists as Prince, Olivia Newton-John, Boy George and Culture Club, Air Supply and Devo.

A story of minor teenage rebellion that’s become something of a cult fave for its '80s time-capsule quality, Girls Just Want to Have Fun centers on Janey (Sarah Jessice Parker), a talented, rule-abiding high school gymnast who moves to a new town and starts disobeying her father. At the encouragement of wild girl Lynne (Helen Hunt), she starts acting out and (gasp!) enters a local TV dance competition.

This musical is a collaboration between Primary Wave and Lively McCabe Entertainment, the New Jersey-based theater development company behind Clue On Stage and Mystic Pizza: The New Musical.

Jennifer Werner, who served as associate director on The Cottage and The Book of Mormon, is attached to direct. The book will be written by How I Met Your Father and Superstore writer M. Dickson, as well as Be More Chill alum Lauren Marcus. Spies will also be involved in the project.

“I am excited that this great team is bringing to the stage my story of empowering female friendships and young women coming into their own,” Spies said in a statement.

“This is a dream project that our team has been working on securing for quite some time,” Lively McCabe CEO Michael Barra said. “[W]e’re immensely grateful to Amy Spies for entrusting us with her iconic story and characters and for her collaboration on bringing them to the stage. And to be able to partner with this brilliant trio of creators as well as our friends at Primary Wave with their incredible catalog of 80s chart-toppers, is just icing on the cake.”

The project will be overseen by Barra along with Lively McCabe associate producer Allison Bressi and Primary Wave’s Natalia Nastaskin and Ramon Villa.