Holy Broadway!
Burton to direct Broadway musicalBatman: The Musical has landed a director - Tim Burton.
Warner Bros., which is producing the multimillion-dollar musical, has been pursuing Burton, who directed the 1989 Batman movie as well as the 1992 sequel Batman Returns, for over a year.
NYPost.com claims the studio sealed the deal after Burton had several meetings with bookwriter David Ives and composer Jim Steinman.
Steinman said: "We're thrilled he's going to do it.
David and I floundered around for a year trying to figure out how to musicalize Batman. Then we looked at Tim's original movie and thought, that's it."Burton - who also directed Planet of the Apes - has never staged a musical before, and according to NYPost.com, a theatre source said Burton wants to direct Batman: The Musical because he's not pleased with the campy turn the franchise took with Batman Forever and Batman and Robin, both of which were directed by Joel Schumacher.
"He wants to re-establish his original vision," said the source. "His major impulse is to redeem the soul of the Batman series."
Burton will begin working on the musical full-time next year. The plan is to open out of town in 2004 and arrive on Broadway in 2005.
In addition to Batman and Robin, the musical will feature the characters The Joker and Cat Woman.
Steinman described his Batman score as a mixture of "Brecht, Weill, Rodgers & Hammerstein and rock 'n' roll."
