MGM hires director of Broadway musical hit ‘Hamilton’ to do 21st-century remake of the iconic ‘Fiddler On The Roof’
By Paul Shindman, World News Israel
Hollywood is coming out with a new version of the hit musical Fiddler on the Roof under critically acclaimed director Thomas Kail, who won awards for the Broadway musical Hamilton, the entertainment website Deadline reported.
Based on the book by New York author Joseph Stein, the original 1964 Broadway stage musical show won nine Tony Awards and was adapted for the screen in the 1971 film directed by Norman Jewison, winning three Academy Awards.
Stein borrowed from stories by the famous Yiddish author Shalom Aleichem for the script that describes the lives ofa of Tevye the milkman, his wife and five daughters in a poor Jewish village in early 19th-century Russia.
MGM is funding the project that Kail will direct, based on his tremendous success with the 2015 musical hit Hamilton, for which he won the Tony award for best director.
A film version of Hamilton will be released on Disney Plus later this summer. Kail will be joined by Steven Levenson, who is writing this screenplay. The two previously collaborated on the Emmy Award-winning television mini-series Fosse/Verdon.
“It has been a lifelong dream of mine to direct Fiddler, though I always imagined I would do it on stage,” Kail told Deadline. “I am overjoyed to have the opportunity to make a new film version of my favorite show.
Producer Dan Jinks, who will be working with Kail, said he first saw the stage production of Fiddler when he was 13.
“I remember finding it hilariously funny, but also incredibly moving. It’s that rare musical that speaks to audiences of all ages,” Jinks said, adding he was thrilled to have the “opportunity to bring this amazing piece to a new generation of audiences.”
“Fiddler On The Roof was the first piece of theater I saw, at the age of five. Today, more than 50 years after it changed the face of Broadway forever, the story of Tevye and his beloved village of Anatevka feels more timely than ever,” said co-producer Said Levenson.