“Burlesque” song “You Haven’t Seen The Last of Me”
Music and lyrics: Diane Warren
Erik Asla
The music of Grammy- and Golden Globe-winning songwriter Diane Warren will provide the bones for a new musical being developed for Broadway.
Producer Dede Harris has optioned Warren’s music catalogue from the composer’s self-owned publishing company. A creative team and timeline for the untitled project will be announced at a later date.
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“I greatly admire the incredible shows and performers that have come from Broadway,” said Warren, who was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2001. “It has always been a thrill for me to write for musical artists who began their careers on the New York stage.”
Warren is the first songwriter in Billboard history to have seven hits by different artists charting at the same time. Her songs have been recorded by Elton John, Beyonce, Whitney Houston, Christina Aguilera, Cher, Carrie Underwood and Jennifer Hudson, among many others. She has been nominated six times in the best original song category of the Academy Awards.
Jukebox musicals on Broadway have frequently been assembled from the songs of individual artists or bands, such as ABBA, Billy Joel and Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, or from the songbooks of vintage composers such as George and Ira Gershwin. But shows built around the work of contemporary songwriters are comparatively rare. One notable exception is the Peter Allen biomusical The Boy From Oz, which was a Tony-winning star vehicle for Hugh Jackman.
In addition to having stakes in such shows as Clybourne Park, One Man, Two Guvnors and War Horse, Harris is a producer on the upcoming musical Hands on a Hardbody, slated for Broadway in the spring.
