The new tuner adaptation of “From Here to Eternity” — the first new legit work in a decade from lyricist Tim Rice — will have its world preem in London at the West End’s Shaftesbury Theater in fall 2013.
Adapted from James Jones’s 1951 novel, the show is produced by Rice and Lee Menzies for Eternity Prods. Ltd. and features Rice’s lyrics with book by Bill Oakes and music by Stuart Brayson.
As in the Oscar-winning 1953 film version, the story examines a set of passionate relationships among army people on a Hawaiian island in 1941 in the run-up to the attack on Pearl Harbor.
Helmed by Tamara Harvey (“Educating Rita” at the Menier Chocolate Factory), who, like Brayson, is making her West End tuner debut, the show will begin previews Sept. 30 prior to an Oct. 23 opening.
Rice was a longtime collaborator with Andrew Lloyd Webber, penning the words to shows including :Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,” “Jesus Christ Superstar” and “Evita.” For Disney he’s written the lyrics for mega-musicals including “The Lion King,” “Beauty and the Beast” and “Aida,” as well as worked on film scores such as “Lion King” and “Aladdin.”
Casting and further details of the creative team for “Eternity” are yet to be announced.
