EW
‘First’ look: Meet the ladies of ‘First Wives Club: The Musical’
By Marc Snetiker on Jan 14, 2015 at 12:39PM @MarcSnetiker
Broadway is about to welcome more middle-aged women.
The 1996 comedy The First Wives Club is finally making the big leap to the stage, and EW has your first look at the trio of theater veterans who inherited the roles of the three divorcees (originally played by Bette Midler, Goldie Hawn, and Diane Keaton) who exact revenge on the husbands who ditched them for younger women.
Meet Faith Prince, Christine Sherrill, and Carmen Cusack, who will give new, belting life to Brenda, Elise, and Annie when the Broadway-bound First Wives Club: The Musical makes its winter premiere in Chicago this February.
Prince is the most notable of the bunch, having appeared in a dozen Broadway shows over the past 25 years including the 1992 revival of Guys and Dolls which earned her a Tony Award. (She’s been nominated four times.) Sherrill cut her teeth in Mamma Mia! in Las Vegas and Urinetown in Chicago, while Cusack starred as Elphaba in the first national tour of Wicked and several West End productions.
The score is independently worthy of its own buzz, with Motown legends Holland-Dozier-Holland reuniting for the first time in 30 years to write new songs for the musical. No, the film’s signature ending tune “You Don’t Own Me” won’t be in the show, but classics like “Stop! In the Name of Love,” “Reach Out I’ll Be There,” and “I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch)” will join with the original songs.
Linda Bloodworth Thomason (Designing Women) will make her theatrical debut writing the book, with Simon Phillips (Priscilla Queen of the Desert) directing. First Wives Club: The Musical runs from Feb. 17 through March 29 at Chicago’s Oriental Theatre before its planned Broadway run in the 2015-2016 season.
