Out of all the movies that could have musical adaptations, I can’t really say I pictured ROCKY as one that would qualify, but apparently Sylvester Stallone disagrees.
He’s signed on to produce (thankfully not star in) a ROCKY musical that will be an all-singing, all-dancing affair. Here’s a rundown of the major facts via Badass Digest:
Sylvester Stallone is teaming with Wladimir Kitschko and his brother Vitali (Russia’s Frank Stallone?) to produce a musical based on the movie that gave Sly his career. The book will be written by Thomas Meehan, who wrote Annie and the Broadway version of The Producers (he also worked on the script for Spaceballs). Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty will be doing the music and lyrics. And Klitschko will be training the lead actor in how to box. The show will open in… Hamburg, Germany in November of 2012. It will be performed in German.
What? The quintessential American underdog story is going to be performed in German? Very strange. No word on when or if it’s coming to America, but I guess it would have to do well in Germany first?
Songs like Eye of the Tiger and Gonna Fly Now will be staples, though one has to wonder how exactly the boxing matches themselves are going to go. Yes, there’s something somewhat rhythmic about boxing sometimes, but are they really going to have elaborately choreographed fights synced up with music? That would be a bit strange.