‘The Nanny’ in Development as Broadway Musical
A new musical based on the popular CBS sitcom 'The Nanny,' which starred Fran Drescher as a shop assistant from Queens who accidentally lands a live-in Manhattan job taking care of the three children of a British Broadway producer and working her way into his heart, is being developed for the stage.
The flashy girl from Flushing might be headed to Broadway.
A new musical based on the popular CBS sitcom The Nanny, which starred Fran Drescher as a shop assistant from Queens who accidentally lands a live-in Manhattan job taking care of the three children of a British Broadway producer and working her way into his heart, is being developed for the stage.
Producers Brian Zeilinger and Scott Zeilinger on Wednesday announced that the show will feature a book by Drescher and her ex-husband Peter Marc Jacobson, who created the Sony Pictures television series, which aired for six seasons from 1993-1999.
Rachel Bloom and Adam Schlesinger, who most recently won a 2019 Emmy for outstanding original music and lyrics for their work on Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, will write the original score. Bloom is penning lyrics, with both songwriting partners working on the music.
Marc Bruni, whose hit production of Beautiful: The Carole King Musical just ended its six-year run on Broadway in October, is attached to direct.
Partly inspired by Drescher’s experience growing up in Queens and molded around her larger-than-life comedic persona and nasal foghorn voice, the sitcom has aired in over 90 countries and more than 30 languages.
A timeline for the Broadway-bound musical, along with additional creative team members and cast, will be announced at a later date.
“Nobody is cast yet — we’re plotting — but we feel confident we will find a fabulous actress who is funny, charming and has a great voice,” said Drescher and Jacobson in a statement.
“Of course I would do it myself,” added Drescher. “But we’d have to change the title to The Granny.”
No word yet on whether the sitcom’s jazzy theme tune, “The Nanny Named Fran” — which was written by Ann Hampton Callaway and sung by her Broadway veteran sister Liz Callaway — will be included in the musical.
Theater insiders have long been speculating as to whether Bloom’s post-Crazy Ex-Girlfriend career would steer her to Broadway projects. The songs featured in each episode of the CW romantic comedy-drama pointed to a deep love of Broadway musicals, which was repeatedly confirmed in Bloom’s New York cabaret appearances.
“The Nanny was a fundamental part of my childhood because it was the first time I saw an openly Jewish female protagonist on television,” Bloom said in a statement. “The story of Fran Fine, however, is a universal one that has touched the hearts of people of every race, religion and orientation. I am so proud to be using the characters established by The Nanny to tell a new story about one woman’s journey to becoming proud of who she is and what makes her different.”
Schlesinger served as executive music producer on Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. A former member of the band Fountains of Wayne, he has written songs for movies including the Tom Hanks-directed That Thing You Do! and Ice Age: Continental Drift; for television ranging from Sesame Street to Stephen Colbert’s 2008 Comedy Central Christmas special; and for the Tony Awards and Broadway, where he teamed with David Javerbaum on the musical adaptation of John Waters’ Cry-Baby.
Schlesinger also is collaborating on the score for Sarah Silverman’s upcoming musical The Bedwetter, based on her childhood memoir, which is set to begin performances April 25 at off-Broadway’s Atlantic Theater Company.
