Brokeback Mountain Coming To Broadway?
Rumors are swirling that there is an effort to bring the massive hit and critically acclaimed cowboy romance Brokeback Mountain to Broadway. There is no word as to whether it will be adapted as a play or as a musical, but there are two stars who are supposedly being approached to star in the Broadway adaptation. X-Men co-stars Hugh Jackman and James Marsden have been named as the two actors they are shooting for to star as Ennis Del Mar and Jack Twist in the weeper love story. Considering the hopeful casting choices, I’m going to go ahead and assume it’s being adapted into a musical.
We know Hugh Jackman for his singing from his Tony winning performance in The Boy From Oz, where he played gay singer and songwriter Peter Allen, and James Marsden just recently showed off his impressive vocal chops as Corny Collins in Hairspray. Both have sung previously, and both have played gay roles before–Marsden played a gay man in the movie Heights, but would they take on such an acclaimed and successful film, knowing the difficulty of duplicating the success and praise when brought to a stage, especially to music?
I could definitely see the show being a commercial hit–especially with such hunky co-stars, many will turn out just to see them kiss on stage–and I can’t imagine the stage door frenzy after each show. But I’m skeptical as to whether this story will translate well to the stage (I mean…it takes place on a mountain…what about the sheep?) and whether it will work as a musical. But then again, I was wary of The Color Purple on Broadway, and that turned out to be a wonderful play. Time will tell if any of these rumors are even true.
