A new tuner version of "A Christmas Story," a new production of "Grand Hotel" directed by Moises Kaufman and a David Cromer-helmed play are among the offerings on the 2009-10 slate at Kansas City Rep.
The "Christmas Story" tuner, based on the 1983 pic and the Jean Shepherd novel on which it is based, had an industry reading in Gotham in December. Producers have announced their intentions to land the show on Broadway next year.
"A Christmas Story, the Musical!," with book by Joseph Robinette and songs by Scott Davenport Richards, centers on a boy named Ralphie who wants a BB gun for Christmas. Eric Rosen, entering his second season as a.d. at Kansas City Rep, will direct the preem in the theater's holiday slot (Nov. 20-Jan. 3).
Producers attached to the project are Gerald Goehring and Michael Jenkins.
Kaufman ("33 Variations") will helm his staging of 1989 tuner "Grand Hotel" as the season opener (Sept. 11-Oct. 4). Show, about a Berlin hotel in the 1920s, was originally directed by Tommy Tune, who picked up a Tony for his production (along with another for choreography). Cromer -- whose Gotham resume includes Off Broadway's "Our Town" and the upcoming Neil Simon revivals on Broadway -- will direct a classic American play to be determined, running March 12-April 4.
Also on the bill is "Venice" (April 9-May 9), a new play by Rosen and Matt Sax, the duo behind "Clay," the solo show that was picked up by Lincoln Center Theater for a New York stint earlier this season. A co-production with Center Theater Group in L.A., "Venice" is a post-apocalyptic retelling of "Othello."
Mary Beth Peil will star in a Rosen-directed production of Mary Zimmerman's "M. Proust" in the fall, while spring offerings include the Lookingglass Theater adaptation of "Around the World in 80 Days" and "Broke-ology," the Nathan Louis Jackson play slated to be seen at LCT in the fall.
Contact Gordon Cox at
gordon.cox@variety.com