SHOWTIME has made a series commitment to an untitled musical drama series executive produced by multiple Grammy winner Alicia Keys and the Oscar, Tony and Grammy winning team of Benj Pasek and Justin Paul (La La Land, Dear Evan Hansen, The Greatest Showman). Pasek and Paul will contribute music to the series. Kyle Jarrow (TheSpongeBob Musical) will write and executive produce. Tony winner and Oscar nominated producer Marc Platt (Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert, The Band’s Visit, La La Land), Emmy winner R.J. Cutler (Nashville, American High), and Emmy winner Adam Siegel (Grease: Live!) will executive produce. The announcement was made today by Gary Levine, President of Entertainment, Showtime Networks Inc.
Produced by Fox 21 Television Studios (Homeland, The Chi), the project traverses generations to tell an emotionally complex family story that interweaves modern-day and 1959 Detroit, centering on a mystery uncovered by a young musician who moves back to her childhood home.
“We have always been intrigued by the prospect of doing a SHOWTIME musical series, but only if the songs could add to the depth and complexity of a great character drama,” said Levine. “Nobody does that better than Pasek and Paul and Marc Platt…so when they came to us along with a global superstar like Alicia, a talented writer like Kyle, and excellent producers like Adam and R.J., we were all in.”
Keys is a 15-time Grammy winning singer-songwriter, musician, producer, actress, best-selling author and activist. She has acted on screen in such projects as The Secret Life of Bees, The Nanny Diaries and Empire, executive produced The Inevitable Defeat of Mister & Pete, co-produced the play Stick Fly and also directed a segment of the multipart film Five.
Working as a team since they met as college freshmen, Pasek and Paul earned an Oscar for their work on La La Land and a Tony Award for Dear Evan Hansen. They have also won two Golden Globe® Awards for La La Land and The Greatest Showman and Grammy Awards for Dear Evan Hansen and The Greatest Showman. Their other notable credits on stage and screen include A Christmas Story, James and the Giant Peach and Smash.
Jarrow was nominated for a Tony for Best Book of a Musical in 2018 for SpongeBob SquarePants, and won an Obie Award for A Very Merry Unauthorized Children’s Scientology Pageant. Jarrow also created the television series Valor.
Prolific film, television, and theatre producer Marc Platt has won two Emmy Awards (Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert, Grease Live!), a Tony Award (The Band’s Visit), and has been nominated for two Oscars (La La Land, Bridge of Spies). Other critically-acclaimed credits include Wicked, Mary Poppins Returns, Into the Woods, Empire Falls and Legally Blonde.
Cutler received two Emmy nominations for Outstanding Non-Fiction Program for American High, winning in 2001; Emmy and BAFTA® nominations for the SHOWTIME documentary LISTEN TO ME MARLON; and he produced the Academy Award®-nominated documentary The War Room. His producing and directing credits also include Nashville and The September Issue. He also directed and produced The World According to Dick Cheney, and is currently directing and producing the Untitled John Belushi documentary, both for SHOWTIME.
Siegel earned an Emmy Award for producing Grease Live! His credits also include Drive, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, and Rent.
