10 Things I Hate About You announced its Broadway arrival today—exactly one year in advance: August 17, 2027. But no theater or cast. Just a date and some key art. Consider it a save-the-date, not an invitation.
The creative team, at least, is locked. Lena Dunham is co-writing the book with playwright Jessica Huang. Carly Rae Jepsen makes her Broadway songwriting debut with GRAMMY winner Ethan Gruska.
Christopher Wheeldon (MJ) directs and choreographs. Tom Kitt handles music supervision and orchestrations. That’s four people with a combined shelf of Tonys and GRAMMYs signed to a show that doesn’t have an address yet.
It wants better content.
What’s old is new (again)
Shakespeare’s 16th-century comedy has already been adapted once. Kiss Me Kate won five Tony Awards, including Best Musical, when it premiered in 1948. Two revivals followed.
Now, the source material is getting another pass, this time as a pop musical. (Audiences have kept & Juliet, the Max Martin Romeo & Juliet jukebox musical, open for four years, so why not?) 10 Things I Hate About You forcasts an equally loose premise at Padua High School, where, “amid the crushes, cliques, and teenage angst, two sisters set out to define themselves on their own terms.”
What the announcement lacks is more interesting than what it has. No theater. No casting. No ticket sales. But the date’s locked, which is an interesting approach for a musical about refusing to live by other people’s timelines.
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