Producers Barbra Streisand and Joel Silver have set “Downton Abbey” creator and writer Julian Fellowes to pen the screenplay adaptation of Stephen Sondheim and Arthur Laurents Tony Award winning musical, Gypsy.
Streisand, now developing the property with Silver, will portray Momma Rose in the new version, her first musical film since Yentl, which she produced, co-wrote, directed and starred in in 1983.
Fellowes won the Original Screenplay Academy Award for Gosford Park and most recently earned the Emmy and Golden Globe for his work on “Downton Abbey.” His musical theatre work includes adapting the script for Disneys stage production of “Mary Poppins.”
Gypsy began its Broadway run in 1959 with Ethel Merman in the lead. Since then, the story — based on the memoirs of the famous striptease artist, Gypsy Rose Lee — has spawned numerous reincarnations, including the 1962 film starring Rosalind Russell and Natalie Wood, four Broadway revivals, as well as a made-for-television movie.
(Photo Credit: Brian To / WENN.com)
