‘Studio 54 The Musical’ In Development For Broadway By Producers Robert Greenblatt & Neil Meron; Sergio Trujillo Directing & Choreographing
Studio 54 in 1978 Joe McNally/Getty Images
EXCLUSIVE: Producers Robert Greenblatt and Neil Meron are developing the Broadway-bound Studio 54 The Musical, a new work with a book by Chad Hodge and set to feature a full playlist of hits from the disco era.
Directed and choreographed by Tony Award-winner Sergio Trujillo (Ain’t Too Proud—The Life and Times of the Temptations), the Broadway-bound Studio 54 musical will trace “the astonishing ascent and sudden downfall of the most legendary club in nightlife history.”
“Neil Meron and I started talking about the amazing story of Studio 54 as a possible series years ago,” said Greenblatt in an exclusive statement to Deadline, “but we finally came to our senses and realized we had the perfect musical right under our noses.”
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Add Meron, “And with book writer Chad Hodge and the incredible Sergio Trujillo, who came of age during the disco dance craze in Toronto and New York, we have the perfect team to bring it to life.”
Casting details and production schedule are to be announced.
The synopsis: “In staggeringly short order, two scrappy impresarios turned an abandoned west side theater into the hottest club in the history of New York– utterly transforming music, nightlife, and celebrity culture in the process. It also transformed the lives of everyone who made it past the door, whether for one extraordinary night or every night. Until it all abruptly came to an end. Studio 54 The Musical will bring audiences past the velvet rope and into a world of unfathomable decadence, set to the thumping sound of the most iconic disco hits of the 1970s and populated by a cast of unforgettable characters, all having the time of their lives. Welcome to Studio 54.”
The legendary disco nightclub was opened by Steve Rubell and Ian Schrager in 1977 and quickly become a cultural sensation. Andy Warhol, Liza Minnelli, Truman Capote, Bianca Jagger and countless other celebrities made the venue their nighttime home-away-from-home, along with New York City’s most fabulous collection of gay, straight and trans nightclubbers. (The club on West 54th Street in Manhattan is currently a Broadway theater operated by the Roundabout Theatre Company.)
Trujillo has an impressive roster of Broadway credits, including Ain’t Too Proud, Memphis, Jersey Boys, The Addams Family, On Your Feet! and Summer: The Donna Summer Musical. He was most recently Director/Choreographer of the new musical Real Women Have Curves, which debuted at American Repertory Theatre, and served as choreographer for the upcoming movie musical Kiss of the Spider Woman starring Jennifer Lopez. He was Emmy-nominated for his choreography for NBC’s Annie Live!
Book writer Hodge has co-written the book for the musical adaptation of Irving Berlin’s Holiday Inn based on the 1942 Bing Crosby/Fred Astaire film (which had its world-premiere at Studio 54). His film work includes Netflix’s gay rom com Single All the Way and, for 20th Century Fox, The Darkest Minds. For television he created the series Wayward Pines (Fox), TNT’s Good Behavior starring Michelle Dockery, NBC’s musical series The Playboy Club, and family crime drama Runaway (CW).
Greenblatt & Meron have had separate prolific careers in network television, motion pictures, and on Broadway, and have also partnered on major musical events. Meron produced all of the live musicals at NBC which Greenblatt oversaw when head of the network – The Sound of Music Live! Peter Pan Live!, The Wiz Live!, Hairspray Live!, Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert! and Annie Live!, which they produced together.
Meron also has produced dozens of feature films and television movies spanning three decades, including some of the most successful movie musicals in recent history (Chicago, Hairspray and, for CBS, Bette Midler’s Gypsy).
Over the last 30 years, Greenblatt has overseen four networks (Fox, Showtime, NBC, and HBO) and launched the HBO Max streaming service. He is also an award-winning producer and recipient of the Golden Globe for Six Feet Under.
Meron and Greenblatt are also active Broadway producers, currently producing the upcoming Smash with Steven Spielberg. Meron produced Some Like It Hot, How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, and Promises, Promises, while Greenblatt is a four-time Tony winner in a career that began with the Broadway adaptation of Dolly Parton’s 9 to 5 The Musical and went on to include Something Rotten!, Dear Evan Hansen, Mean Girls, The Inheritance and this year’s Days of Wine And Roses.
Joanne Horowitz, who will serve as Consulting Producer, was a secretary at Universal Pictures when she was first introduced to Rubell and Schrager. With access to the daily Celebrity Bulletin, she helped the club owners with inviting stars to the venue, and within weeks had quit her job at Universal to work full-time at Studio 54, where she created and oversaw its celebrity business. She was at Studio 54 for every night of its heyday, and went on to become a prominent Hollywood talent managers.