Classic movies no longer just have a second life at 1 a.m. on TBS. Nowadays, they are just as likely to be found on Broadway.
That was what happened with the recent revival of The Color Purple, which was produced by Scott Sanders and Carol Fineman. And now the pair have started the push for another long-awaited Broadway resurrection: a stage adaptation of 1982 film, Tootsie.
The comedy, which starred Dustin Hoffman as the cross-dressing Michael Dorsey, brought co-star Jessica Lange an Oscar.
As Broadway World reported earlier this week, Tootsie‘s production team started holding development readings for the show, and that actor Santino Fontana (Act One) would be reading for the role of Dorsey.
According to the New York Post, Larry Gelbart, who originally co-wrote Tootsie (the movie) tried and failed for years to bring the movie to Broadway. The stumbling block? Dustin Hoffman, who owned the rights to the title character. It caused a rift between the two while the movie was being made and spilled over into the eventual attempt at making the play.
Scott Ellis will direct, and David Yazbek has written the score.
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