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Scripting Batman's Stage Debut

The Batmobile is blasting toward Broadway.

After months of negotiations, Hollywood movie studio Warner Bros. is on the verge of locking in three theater pros — including famed producer Manny Azenberg — to create a Broadway musical featuring the Caped Crusader, sources close to Warner Bros. said.

Greg Maday, the Warner Bros. executive in charge of the highly anticipated Batman show, is expected to meet this week with Warner Bros. co-chairman Bob Daly to iron out details. The Caped Crusader is Broadway bound. According to the source, the musical take on Batman is scheduled to hit Gotham sometime in 2001. Warner Bros. and Azenberg were mum on the plans.

Azenberg, the producer of the Broadway revival of Eugene O'Neill's drama, "The Iceman Cometh," has been consulting with Maday for several months.

Warner Bros., a newcomer to the Great White Way, is counting on Azenberg's four decades of experience as the producer of all of Neil Simon's plays, as well as such acclaimed shows as "Sunday in the Park with George."

As first reported in the Daily News, Maday is set to tap Grammy-award winning rock composer Jim Steinman to write music and lyrics for the Batman show.

Rounding out the Batman threesome, Warner Bros. is also about to sign playwright David Ives, who wrote the off-Broadway play, "All In The Timing," to pen the show.

"We hope to announce a deal within the next couple weeks," said Ives' agent William Craver.

From The NY Daily News
April, 1999

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