John Lennon ‘Nowhere Boy’ Biopic to Become Stage Musical
Nowhere Boy, the 2009 movie about John Lennon's teenage years, is being turned into a musical for the stage.
The biopic centered on the relationship among Lennon, his mother Julia and her sister Mimi Smith, who raised Lennon throughout much of his young life, as he formed the Quarrymen, who eventually became the Beatles.
As reported by Deadline, the musical will be co-produced by Brian and Dayna Lee of AF Creative Media and Robyn Goodman and Josh Fiedler of Aged in Wood. They'll soon begin a search for someone to write the script, with the hopes of premiering the production in the U.K. at some point within the next few years. The musical is not authorized by Yoko Ono, though she has been told about it.
“We’ve just secured the rights of the film,” Brian said. "As a team we’ll be traveling to London this summer, trying to figure out the right person to bring this narrative to life.”
Even though the movie included a few of the Beatles' early compositions and closed with Lennon's song "Mother," the musical won't contain any of Lennon's or the Beatles' music. Instead, the producers will look to secure rights for early rock 'n' roll and R&B songs the Quarrymen listened to and performed.
The Nowhere Boy movie soundtrack featured tracks like Big Mama Thornton's original version of "Hound Dog," Gene Vincent and the Blue Caps' "Be-Bop-a-Lula," Jerry Lee Lewis' "Wild One" and seven songs performed by the Quarrymen, who were called the Nowhere Boys on the album.
Both production teams slated for the musical have strong track records on Broadway. AF Creative Media helped stage revivals of Angels in America and Hello, Dolly! starring Bette Midler; Aged in Wood co-produced In the Heights and Avenue Q.