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Disney Channel Confirms ‘Freaky Friday’ TV Movie Musical

Freaky Friday, quite simply put, is one of many classic Disney films.  Originally hitting the big screen in 1976, the film starred Barbara Harris and Jodi Foster as a mother and daughter who are having trouble understanding what the other is going through in their life.  Through a little Disney magic, the two swap bodies for a day and have to experience a day in the life as the other.

The film has been remade twice since the original; once, for television, in 1995 with Shelley Long and Gaby Hoffman and again as a 2003 film starring Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan.

Last fall, the story was adapted as a stage musical production with theater runs occurring at the Signature Theatre in Arlington, Virginia and the La Jolla Playhouse in California.  That production starred Heidi Blickenstaff (The Little Mermaid) and Emma Hunton (Next to Normal, Wicked) as the mother-daughter duo.

Now, it has been announced that Disney is planning yet another reboot of the classic in the form of a television musical.  The format has become popular lately with the success of live television musicals such as The Sound of Music, Grease Live!, and who could forget John Travolta as Edna Turnblad in the live tv version of Hairspray.  The made for television musical adaptation will be based on the Tom Kitt-Brian Yorkey stage musical production with book by Bridget Carpenter (Friday Night Lights, Parenthood) and a score by Tony and Pulitzer Prize winners Kitt and Yorkey (Next to Normal, If/Then).

Carpenter, Kitt and Yorkey are reportedly listed on the casting notice as the creative team though no director has yet been named.  Stay tuned for more casting info and news on development of the production as it becomes available.

Just last February, the cast album of the stage production was released.  Freaky Friday is currently playing at the Cleveland Playhouse through May 29th.  The production will then be heading for the Alley Theatre in Houston, Texas from June 2nd through July 2nd.

Are you excited for a made for TV musical adaptation of Freaky Friday?  Tell us your thoughts in the comment section below!

Disney Channel Confirms 'Freaky Friday' TV Movie Musical

Source: Playbill

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