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New York Post

A Hugely Popular, Oscar-Winning Best Picture Is Being Turned Into a Broadway Musical. Hey, What About a TV Version?

Aug 21, 2015  •  Post A Comment

This 1973 feature film was very popular and won 7 Academy Awards, including Best Picture. It was all about cons, big and little. “The Sting” is being adapted into a Broadway musical, writes Michael Riedel in the New York Post.

The story says, “[T]he 1973 caper movie [starred] Robert Redford and Paul Newman and [featured] Marvin Hamlisch’s jaunty arrangements of Scott Joplin songs, most notably ‘The Entertainer.’

“A workshop of the musical, meant to be top-secret, was held earlier this month in New York. Bob Martin, who wrote ‘The Drowsy Chaperone,’ adapted David S. Ward’s Oscar-winning screenplay. The original music and lyrics are by Greg Kotis and Mark Hollmann, the pair who wrote the musical ‘Urinetown.’”

Riedel adds, “I have Martin’s script in hand and, as far as I can tell, it follows the movie pretty closely. Set during the Great Depression, the tricky plot follows two grifters — Hooker [played by Redford in the movie] and Gondorff [played by Newman in the movie] — as they cook up all sorts of cons and schemes to outwit Lonnegan [played by Robert Shaw in the movie], the dangerous mob boss.”

[Aside to NBCUniversal, who released the movie version, from us here at TVWeek: How about also adapting the fun “Sting” into a limited (non-musical) TV series, with each new season being a different big con? And maybe you could even get Redford to play a part. After all, he started his career in various guest spots on TV …]

the-stingThe opening title frame from the movie “The Sting,” which starred Robert Redford, Paul Newman and the late, great Robert Shaw

One Comment

  1. How about the “late great Paul Newman”??

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