Daryl Roth, Hal Luftig want to turn comedy into musical
"Kinky Boots" could be strutting to Broadway.
The British comedy and 2006 Miramax release has been acquired for the stage by veteran Broadway producers Daryl Roth ("August: Osage County") and Hal Luftig ("Movin' Out"), who aim to turn it into a Broadway musical.
Jerry Mitchell, who directed the Broadway adaptation of "Legally Blonde," is in talks to direct the stage project.
"Kinky Boots," one of the first releases by the post-Weinstein Miramax in 2006, starred Chiwetel Ejiofor as a drag queen who helps the chief of a struggling Midlands shoe company save his business by designing a line of fetish shoes. The movie earned a Golden Globe nomination for Ejiofor.
Although the film is not a musical -- it contained just a few cabaret numbers -- and also played primarily as a comedy, producers say they want to emphasize the emotional aspects of the story in the theatrical production. "The story is really about relationships," Roth said, "and I want to find the heart at the center of it."
After seeing "Kinky Boots" at the Sundance Film Festival in 2006, Roth was attracted to its theatrical possibilities and eventually acquired the stage rights from Disney.
Roth is one of several producers who has been bringing the theater and film worlds closer together; she recently joined with film producer Richard Gladstein to acquire the film rights for the the novel "Apologize, Apologize" and will develop it for the big screen.
Mitchell is no stranger to film-to-stage adaptations. The Tony winner served as the choreographer for the Broadway productions of "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels," "Hairspray" and "The Full Monty," which like "Kinky Boots" is a raunchy but goodhearted British comedy with class overtones.
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