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Broadway Musical 'Follies' Will Become a Movie!

The classic Broadway musical Follies, written by Stephen Sondheim, is heading to the big screen with a new movie version!

An acclaimed production of the musical was staged at the National Theatre in London in 2017 and again in 2019 due to popular demand.

Four-time Olivier Award-winning director Dominic Cooke, who directed the production, will also direct the movie. You can watch a trailer for the stage production right here.

The musical features songs like “Broadway Baby,” “I’m Still Here,” and “Losing My Mind.” The story follows a reunion of former performers in a crumbling Broadway theater scheduled for demolition.

“Over the years, there have been many attempts to bring Follies to the screen, but not until Dominic Cooke’s brilliant production at the National Theatre of Great Britain did it seem like it could be a real movie. I’m more than delighted, I’m thrilled, that it’s finally going to happen,” Sondheim said in a statement (via Deadline).

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and Marriage Story producer David Heyman will be producing the movie.

Broadway's 'Company' Revival Sets Star-Studded Cast to Join Katrina Lenk & Patti LuPone!

The Stephen Sondheim musical Company is returning to Broadway next year for a gender-bent revival and the full cast has been announced!

Tony winner Katrina Lenk will be playing Bobbie, a character that was previously referred to as Bobby and played by a man in past productions. Patti LuPone will be making a highly anticipated return to the New York stage as Joanne.

Joining the cast (and pictured below from left to right) are Matt Doyle as Jamie, Christopher Fitzgerald as David, Christopher Sieber as Harry, Jennifer Simard as Sarah, Terence Archie as Larry, Etai Benson as Paul, Nikki Renee Daniels as Jenny, Claybourne Elder as Andy, Greg Hildreth as Peter, Kyle Dean Massey as Theo, and Bobby Conte Thornton as P.J.

Director Marianne Elliott collaborated with Sondheim to update the musical and bring the story into the 21st century. In Company, musical theatre’s most iconic bachelor becomes a bachelorette. At Bobbie’s (Lenk) 35th birthday party, all her friends are wondering why isn’t she married? Why can’t she find the right man? And, why can’t she settle down and have a family?

The musical will begin performances on March 2, 2020 ahead of an official opening night on March 22, 2020, which happens to be Sondheim‘s 90th birthday.

Ben Platt, Beanie Feldstein, & Richard Linklater Team Up for 'Merrily We Roll Along' Film Adaptation

Richard Linklater is directing a movie adaptation of Stephen Sondheim‘s musical “Merrily We Roll Along,” starring Beanie Feldstein and Ben Platt!

The 59-year-old filmmaker will shoot the 26-year-old Booksmart actress and the 25-year-old The Politician actor over a span of 20 years, Collider reports.

Richard Linklater also used this film style with 2014′s Boyhood, which was filmed over 12 years.

Merrily We Roll Along follows “Franklin Shepard, a talented Broadway composer who abandons his theater career in New York and all his friends in order to produce movies in Los Angeles.”

The musical is told in reverse, starting in 1976 and finally reaching the point where the characters originally met, 20 years earlier.

Ben will play the lead, and Beanie will portray his best friend, theater critic Mary Flynn.

Fun facts: Ben Platt and Beanie Feldstein are best friends from high school, and in Lady Bird, Beanie’s character was part of the school musical, which was Merrily.

READ MORE: Beanie Feldstein to Play Monica Lewinsky in Ryan Murphy’s Next ‘American Crime Story’ Season

Stephen Sondheim Slams Lady Gaga's Oscars 2015 'Sound of Music' Performance

Broadway composer Stephen Sondheim, known for Into the Woods, Sweeney Todd, and more, is slamming Lady Gaga‘s performance at the 2015 Oscars.

The 28-year-old entertainer sang a medley from The Sound of Music, and Stephen was less than impressed.

“On the Academy Awards she was a travesty,” Stephen, 84, told The Times. “It was ridiculous, as it would be from any singer who treats that music in semi-operatic style. She had no relationship to what she was singing. What people liked was her versatility.”

Watch Lady Gaga‘s Sound of Music Oscars performance here if you haven’t seen it yet, and take a look at photos from the performance below. More Here! »

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Stephen Sondheim Clarifies 'Into the Woods' Movie Changes

Legendary composer Stephen Sondheim is speaking out to clarify comments that he made about the changes being made to his musical Into the Woods for the upcoming movie, which caused an uproar among fans of the show.

In the original story, it was said that a major song was going to be cut and that one of the characters who dies in the play would live in the movie.

“An article in The New Yorker misreporting my ‘Master Class’ conversation about censorship in our schools with seventeen teachers from the Academy for Teachers a couple of weeks ago has created some false impressions about my collaboration with the Disney Studio on the film version of Into the Woods. The fact is that James (Lapine, who wrote both the show and the movie) and I worked out every change from stage to screen with the producers and with Rob Marshall, the director. Despite what the New Yorker article may convey, the collaboration was genuinely collaborative and always productive,” Stephen said (via Broadway World). “When the conversation with the teachers occurred, I had not yet seen a full rough cut of the movie. Coincidentally, I saw it immediately after leaving the meeting and, having now seen it a couple of times, I can happily report that it is not only a faithful adaptation of the show, it is a first-rate movie.”

“And for those who care, as the teachers did, the Prince’s dalliance is still in the movie, and so is ‘Any Moment,’” he added.

ARE YOU SATISFIED with Stephen Sondheim’s clarification about the Into the Woods movie?