MARK KENNEDY
AP Drama Writer
NEW YORK (AP) — Tony Award-winner Faith Prince will lead the trio of vengeful ex-spouses in “The First Wives Club” musical.
Producers said Wednesday that Prince, whose Broadway credits include “Guys and Dolls” and “Annie” will join Christine Sherrill (“Mamma Mia!”) and Carmen Cusack (“Wicked” tour) in the show, which makes its debut at Chicago’s Oriental Theater in February. If successful, producers hope the show can make it to Broadway.
The comedy has been revamped and rewritten for the stage by Emmy Award-nominee Linda Bloodworth Thomason, the writer and producer of such TV shows as “Designing Women” and “Evening Shade.”
The 1996 film “The First Wives Club,” starring Bette Midler, Goldie Hawn and Diane Keaton, was based on Olivia Goldsmith’s novel about three women who are dumped by their powerful husbands for slim, young trophy wives. The first wives band together and take back their lives in style.
The director will be Simon Phillips (who helmed “Love Never Dies” and “Priscilla Queen of the Desert”) and the songs — both original music and classics — will be supplied by Motown legends Lamont Dozier and brothers Brian Holland and Eddie Holland, who are behind such hits as “Stop in the Name of Love” and “I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch).”
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