“Nancy Drew and the Mystery at Spotlight Manor: A Musical” is currently in development. The musical is a stage adaptation of the character at the center of the book series featuring teen detective Nancy Drew. “Spotlight Manor” is an original mystery written especially for the theater, inspired by more than 175 Nancy Drew stories.
Set at a theater camp known as Spotlight Manor, the show will feature music by Tony, Emmy, Grammy and Academy Award winner Alan Menken, lyrics by Tony nominee Nell Benjamin and a book by Academy Award winner Sarah Kernochan. Tony and Pulitzer Prize winner James Lapine will direct.
On Broadway, Menken most recently wrote the music for “A Bronx Tale The Musical.” His other Main Stem credits include “Beauty and the Beast,” “The Little Mermaid,” “Aladdin,” “Sister Act” and “Newsies The Musical,” for which he won a Tony for Best Original Score. Benjamin wrote the music and lyrics for “Legally Blonde” and lyrics for “Mean Girls.” Lapine is a three-time Tony winner for Best Book of a Musical for “Into the Woods,” “Falsettos” and “Passion.” He most recently directed “Flying Over Sunset” on Broadway.
Kernochan is a two-time Academy Award winner for her feature documentary “Marjoe” and her documentary short “Thoth.” Earlier in her career, Kernochan penned the musical “Sleeparound Town,” which was workshopped at the Public Theater and later at Playwrights Horizons. Kernochan has also written a song cycle called “Biology & You.” She is also a screenwriter and novelist.
First published in 1930 by Grosset & Dunlap, the Nancy Drew books were ghostwritten by different authors who all used the pseudonym Carolyn Keene. Simon & Schuster later took over publishing the series, beginning with volume 57.
“After 175 Nancy Drew mysteries that span from her small town of River Heights to exotic locales around the world, the teen detective is about to tackle perhaps the most exotic locale of all to her: a musical theater camp, Spotlight Manor,” Lapine said in a statement. “Alan, Nell, Sarah and I have been having a ball letting Nancy and her pals take to the stage and sing for the first time.”
“Nancy Drew and the Mystery at Spotlight Manor: A Musical” is being produced by Daryl Roth, Lauren Mitchell, Revilo Imaginations (Beckett Swede and Ilana Landsberg-Lewis) and Bill and Laurie Benenson. Roth will serve as executive producer. Adam Hess and Grant A. Rice at Daryl Roth Theatrical Management will be general managers.
