La La Land musical set to open on Broadway

The Oscar-winning musical La La Land is to be transformed into a stage show.

The 2017 hit, which made over $470m worldwide at the box office, will be heading to Broadway, with music by Justin Hurwitz and lyrics by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, the same team who worked on the film.

Marc Platt, who produced the film, has called the show “the next exciting chapter in its evolution” – a concert version of the film has been touring the world for six years.

“We’ve assembled a world-class team to create a musical that will delight La La Land’s millions of current fans and introduce the property to a whole new audience,” he added.

The stage musical will be directed by Bartlett Sher, who won a Tony award for 2008’s South Pacific and whose credits include 2018’s take on To Kill a Mockingbird. The book will be written by Pulitzer-winning playwright Ayad Akhtar and Matthew Decker.

The story focuses on an actor and a jazz musician as they fall in and out of love in Los Angeles. Songs from the film include City of Stars and Someone in the Crowd.

La La Land won six Oscars, including best actress for Emma Stone and best director for Damien Chazelle. In 2017, Chazelle said he had been asked about a Broadway transfer and that “maybe one day in the future” it could happen. The director, whose latest film Babylon received mixed reviews, has not been confirmed as involved with the stage show.

The production comes from Lionsgate, the company behind the film. A number of its other projects also headed to the stage, including Wonder and Nashville. This year also sees several other Broadway musicals based on hit movies open including Life of Pi and Back to the Future.