Broadway may welcome the ultimate showman to the Great White Way: Liberace! The New York Post is reporting that Jerry Weintraub, the producer of the hit HBO original film Behind the Candelabra, wants to turn the story into a Broadway musical. And to step into Liberace’s hot pants, Weintraub wants none other than Tony-winning and Oscar-nominated actor Hugh Jackman. No casting, creative team or definitive plans have been set.
Behind the Candelabra premiered at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival then on HBO in May 2013. The Steven Soderbergh biopic about the final 10 years of Liberace’s life and his bizarre relationship with a young man named Scott Thorson brought the cable network its highest ratings for a TV film in nearly a decade. The made-for-TV movie stars Michael Douglas as Liberace, Debbie Reynolds as his mother and Matt Damon as Thorson. The Last Five Years’ Richard LaGravenese adapted the screenplay from Thorson’s 1988 tell-all Behind the Candelabra: My Life with Liberace.
As previously reported, there’s another Liberace musical circling Broadway: Alexander DeJong's All That Glitters spans Liberace’s entire life, featuring three actors (Three Company’s Richard Kline, Zachary S. Berger and Kevin Dolan) playing the role at different stages of the performer's life. The show, which will feature costumes by the renowned Bob Mackie, received a pre-Broadway workshop in May 2012 at the Baryshnikov Arts Center.
Click below to watch the trailer for Behind the Candelabra.