Vanessa Hudgens will star in the Broadway version of Gigi in January 2015. Miss Hudgens who began her career doing musical theater is thrilled to finally be making her Broadway debut.
The musical was originally a movie based on a novel by Colette.
The film won the 1959 Academy Award for best picture and it was previously transformed into a play starring Audrey Hepburn in 1951.
In 1973, it became a stage musical starring Karin Wolfe, but due to lack of success it was cancelled after about 100 shows.
Gigi is set in turn-of-the-20th century Paris, and focuses on a teenage girl Gilberte aka Gigi, who was being groomed to be Gaston’s mistress, but the pair ended up falling in love.
In a telephone conversation with AP, Hudgens explained that her mom’s nickname and her dog name is Gigi, so she knew she was born to play the character. The former High School Musical star added:
“I could really look like I could be a Parisian in the 1900s. I don’t think they had many Filipinos there then.”
The 25-year-old actress and singer revealed that she has already started learning lyrics to songs like “Thank Heaven For Little Girls,” “I Remember It Well” and “The Night They Invented Champagne.”
The Spring Breakers actress said that she feels honored to be part of such amazing project:
“I’ve never been so ecstatic about a project before. I genuinely feel like a child, beaming from ear-to-ear, being taken to Disneyland for the first time. It’s something that I actually feel I was born to do.”
Hudgens’ costars will be annouced in the fall.
Eric Schaeffer will direct the Broadway version of Gigi while Joshua Bergasse will serve as choreographer.
English playwright Heidi Thomas will re-imagine the new production of Gigi.
Thomas will reorganize the songs and use scenes from the movie. The musical will have a four-week “pre-Broadway” tryout at the Kennedy Center starting on Jan. 16. and then move to New York.
Schaeffer confessed that he was looking for an unknown actress for the role, but after Hudgens auditioned, he knew he found his Gigi.
