Here's a quick roundup of stories you might have missed.
Playwright Gina Gionfriddo has penned a stage adaptation of Thomas Harris’ literary thriller The Silence of the Lambs with Nikolai Foster attached to direct. The production will have its world premiere at the Curve Theatre in Leicester, England and will play from August 1–15, 2026. After its initial run, The Silence of the Lambs will embark on a tour of the UK and Ireland. A horror classic and pop culture mainstay, The Silence of the Lambs tells the story of an FBI trainee tasked with interviewing infamous murderer Hannibal Lecter in hopes that his twisted brilliance might help her catch another sadistic killer on the loose. Harris’ book was adapted into an Oscar winning film in 1991 starring Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins. Gionfriddo’s screenwriting credits include NBC’s Law and Order and Netflix’s House of Cards. Her plays Becky Shaw and Rapture, Blister, Burn were finalists for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2009 and 2013, respectively. Becky Shaw will have its Broadway premiere at the Hayes Theater this spring. The cast and complete creative team will be announced shortly.
Will and Grace funny lady and theater veteran Megan Mullally is set to star in a new musical entitled Iceboy! Or The Completely Untrue Story of How Eugene O’Neill Came to Write The Iceman Cometh at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago. Iceboy will feature music by Mark Hollman, lyrics by Mark Hollman and Jay Reiss and a book by Erin Quinn Purcell and Jay Reiss. Hollman co-created Urinetown and Reiss contributed to The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, both of which earned them Tony awards. Marc Bruni, who helmed Broadway’s The Great Gatsby and Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, replaces previously announced director Kathleen Marshall. Set in 1938, Iceboy tells the tale of Vera Vimm, an actress who’s the toast of the Great White Way until the 40,000-year-old Neanderthal she adopts threatens to dim her spotlight. Previews will begin June 9, 2026 with opening night on June 22. The show is set to run until July 19, 2026.
Tony winner Myles Frost has been tapped to lead the cast of Arena Stage’s Chez Joey, a reworking of Rodgers and Hart’s classic musical Pal Joey. Inspired by a series of New Yorker short stories by John O’Hara, this version will feature a revised book by Oscar-nominated screenwriter Richard LaGravenese. The production will be co-directed by Tony-winning dance legend Savion Glover and Tony Goldwyn. Frost, who won a Tony for MJ: The Musical, will play Joey Evans, a second-rate performer whose ambitions of opening a nightclub are complicated by a love triangle. Pal Joey premiered on Broadway in 1940, launching Gene Kelly into stardom and introducing standards like “Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered” and “I Could Write a Book.” Chez Joey premieres at the Mead Center for American Theater in Washington, D.C. on January 30, 2026, with opening night set for February 13. It is scheduled to run through March 15, 2026.
Stranger Things star Sadie Sink has confirmed that she will star in the film adaptation of John Proctor is the Villain after originating the role of Shelby on Broadway. This news comes after she previously announced that she would serve as an executive producer for the project. Kimberly Belflower’s sharp comedy about the effects of the #MeToo movement on a rural Georgia high school was a bonafide hit that prompted a bidding war among film studios. Universal Pictures secured the rights for John Proctor in July, with Tina Fey and Marc Platt attached as producers. Belflower will pen the script, with the rest of the cast and creative team to be announced. Before she gets to work on John Proctor, Sink will make her West End debut in Romeo and Juliet.
Though Wicked: For Good was billed as an “epic conclusion,” our journey down the yellow brick road may not be over yet. Composer Stephen Schwartz has suggested that he might be working on a new Wicked-related project. Says Schwartz, “[Wicked librettist and co-screenwriter] Winnie Holzman and I are doing some work right now on ideas that aren’t a sequel to Wicked, because I think the Glinda and Elphaba story feels complete—but there are other aspects that could be explored.” Schwartz and Holzman have plenty of material to work with. Gregory Maguire, the novelist who launched Wicked into the public imagination, has a slew of books set in Oz, including an immediate follow-up centered on Elphaba’s son. There is also Maguire’s original source material: L. Frank Baum’s series of children’s books which contain all sorts of outlandish characters ripe for dramatization. Whatever the case may be, it will likely be popular. Wicked: For Good opened number one at the box office and the Broadway blockbuster is going strong at the Gershwin Theatre.