This is the moment! We've just learned that the 1997 Broadway sensation Jekyll & Hyde is being adapted into a major motion picture. Oscar winner Alexander Dinelaris (Birdman, On Your Feet!) is crafting the screenplay for the movie musical, which will serve as the first project of the new development company Lexicon. The film will feature the Tony-nominated music of Frank Wildhorn, with lyrics by Wildhorn, Leslie Bricusse and Steve Cuden.
"Bringing the gritty potential of Leslie and Frank's stirring gothic musical to the big screen made Jekyll & Hyde the perfect project to launch Lexicon, which is focused on character-driven, muscular storytelling," said Dinelaris.
Wildhorn and Bricusse added, "After thirty years of our stage productions playing successfully in almost every major country in the world, we are absolutely thrilled to see our musical version of Jekyll & Hyde becoming a major motion picture."
The stage musical, featuring a book by Bricusse based on Robert Louis Stevenson's 1886 novel, follows the epic struggle between good and evil of two men—one, a doctor, passionate and romantic; the other, a terrifying madman.
The original Broadway production starred Robert Cuccioli in a Tony-nominated turn as the title characters alongside Linda Eder as Lucy; a 2013 revival was headlined by Constantine Maroulis and Deborah Cox.
Casting and a production timeline for the film are forthcoming.