Steven Spielberg is heading to Broadway.
According to the New York Post, Spielberg is lined up to make his stage directing debut with a new musical at the Public Theater in New York. Tony Kushner is writing and Jeanine Tesori is composing. Plot details are close to nonexistent.
Kushner has been Spielberg's go-to screenwriter for two decades now: "Munich," "Lincoln," "West Side Story" and "The Fabelmans." All four were Best Picture nominees. Tesori worked as supervising vocal producer on Spielberg's "West Side Story," and she's a two-time Tony winner.
The timing is tied to Oskar Eustis, the Public's outgoing artistic director. The show is reportedly meant as part of his farewell and would open sometime in the 2027-28 season, his last. Under Eustis, "Hamilton” was created.
Spielberg, now 79, moved from Los Angeles to Manhattan with Kate Capshaw earlier this year, and Amblin has opened a New York office. If there ever was a time for him to hit Broadway it’s probably now. His last film, “Disclosure Day,” was released this year to underwhelming response.
This comes as Quentin Tarantino is set to make his theater directing debut in London next February with "The Poppinjay Cavalier," a swashbuckling play he wrote, starring Sacha Baron Cohen. Historically, it goes the other way. Mike Nichols, Bob Fosse, Sam Mendes and Martin McDonagh all moved from theater to film, not the reverse.
Here's my question. Spielberg is arguably one of the greatest visual storytellers in American cinema. So much of his genius lives in camera movement, in his masterful blocking. On stage there is no camera. The audience sits in one spot and sees the whole frame all night. It's a very different ballgame. It’ll be interesting to see how this one turns out.
Kushner has been Spielberg's go-to screenwriter for two decades now: "Munich," "Lincoln," "West Side Story" and "The Fabelmans." All four were Best Picture nominees.