A new stage musical adaptation of the popular 1999 film 10 Things I Hate About You is being developed for Broadway, with Carly Rae Jepsen and Ethan Gruska collaborating on the score and Lena Dunham and Jessica Huang at work on the book.
Two-time Tony winners Christopher Wheeldon will handle direction and choreography with Tom Kitt (Next To Normal) on music supervision, arrangements, and orchestrations. Mike Bosner will produce.
10 Things I Hate About You is a retelling of William Shakespeare’s 1594 play The Taming of the Shrew, and the film launched the careers of Heath Ledger, Julia Stiles, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, showcasing a breakout performance by Alison Janney. The film became a generational touchstone with its keen insight into 1990s teen life as seen in a Seattle suburb.
Casting and a production timeline for the musical was not announced.
Jepsen launched a major music career with her 2012 hit “Call Me Maybe.” Jepsen landed the lead role in the 2014 Broadway production of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella and later starred as Frenchy, in Fox’s four-time Emmy Award-winning musical Grease: Live.
Gruska is a record producer, songwriter, and composer from Los Angeles. He has collaborated with a wide range of artists, including Phoebe Bridgers, Ryan Beatty, Bon Iver, Remi Wolf, Conan Gray, John Legend, and Jepsen.
Dunham is best known for creating the HBO series Girls, and this year she returns to television with the Netflix romcom series Too Much, which she wrote and directed and co-created with her husband Luis Felber, starring Megan Stalter and Will Sharpe.
Huang is a playwright and librettist whose work includes Mother of Exiles, The Paper Dreams of Harry Chin, and Transmissions in Advance of the Second Great Dying. She has commissions with Indiana Repertory Theatre, Manhattan Theatre Club, and TimeLine Theatre, and is developing an original television show with WBTV.
Wheeldon directed and choreographed the musical version of An American in Paris, which had productions in Paris, on Broadway, and in London. Most recently he directed and choreographed MJ The Musical, both winning four Tony Awards, including Best Choreography.
Since its release in 1999, the film has been celebrated by critics and fans as one of the great high school movies. Ledger’s performance of the Frankie Valli and Bob Gaudio’s classic “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You” in the film has become inspiration for numerous marriage proposals and viral videos.
