‘The Shining’ Stage Play Eyes Ben Stiller for Jack!
There have been a number of cool theater adaptions of classics horror films over the last decade. With Jaws (the making off), The Exorcist, The Evil Dead and The Toxic Avenger all getting fancy stage productions, it was only a mater of time before someone jumped onto the untapped source of entertainment that is Stephen King. But that is about to change as a new production based on King’s The Shining.
Deadline report that Ivo Van Hove is currently in the process of developing the new adaption with an eye for a debut in West End in 2023, and the creative team are in talks with Ben Stiller for the role of crazed Jack Torrance.
“Sources tell Deadline that director van Hove, last seen on Broadway pre-pandemic with the reworked West Side Story, will lead the creative team, with Tony winner Simon Stephens (The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time and, most recently, Morning Sun starring Edie Falco) adapting the King novel. (Stephens also wrote the Sea Wall half of Sea Wall/A Life, with Tom Sturridge starring.)”
Plans for the show started in 2017, but the Covid pandemic shut down all west end performances and productions, putting the show on the back burner for the majority of 2020. Now that theaters have opened back up, The Shining is back in production and moving ahead with rehearsals in the fall of this year.
The Shining is one of King’s most loved properties, whether that’s the book that was released in 1977, or Stanley Kubrick’s adaption in 1980. The story follows the Torrance family as they travel to the Overlook Hotel in the Colorado mountains, following Jack Torrance’s employment as the winter caretaker of the hotel. However, Jack’s son Danny has a special gift, a kind of shine, that stirs the restless spirits in the Overlook. The new stage play will be following King’s original novel, however, it would not surprise me if they throw in a few nods toward Kubrick’s creation too.
Producing will be Sonia Friedman and Colin Callender, currently teamed up on Broadway with Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, so you can expect the new show to share a similar vein in the use of technology, albeit using a mixture of classic theater tricks and modern day tech that will be sure to stun audiences.
Whilst the jury is out on how well suited Stiller will be for the role of Jack, it certainly would not be his first theater production. In 2011, he starred in a Broadway revival of John Guare’s House of Blue Leaves opposite Edie Falco and Jennifer Jason Leigh. His star power would surely also help ticket sale.
Talking of Broadway, the show is looking to eventually move the over there too, once it’s first London run is complete.
More news on this soon.
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