From a bridal shop in Flushing, Queens, to Broadway: Fran Drescher is developing a stage adaptation of The Nanny, with Crazy Ex-Girlfriend Emmy winners Rachel Bloom and Adam Schlesinger writing the score. Drescher will pen the book with Peter Marc Jacobson; the two co-created the series while married.
Beautiful–The Carole King Musical director Marc Bruni is attached to helm the musical with the father-son producing duo of Scott and Brian Zeilinger serving as producers. A production timeline, additional creative team members, and casting information will be announced at a later date.
Drescher, who starred in Emmy-nominated series of the same name from 1993 to 1999 on CBS, is a Broadway alum herself, having appeared in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella as Madame. Though don't expect her to bow in this show: “We’d have to change the title to The Granny,” she jokes.
Bloom and Schlesinger won an Emmy award in 2019 for their song “Antidepressants Are So Not a Big Deal” from the CW series’ Season 4 episode “I Have to Get Out.” Schlesinger is a Tony nominee for Cry-Baby.
“The Nanny was a fundamental part of my childhood because it was the first time I saw an openly Jewish female protagonist on television,” said Bloom. “The story of Fran Fine, however, is a universal one that has touched the hearts of people of every race, religion and orientation. I am so proud to be using the characters established by The Nanny to tell a new story about one woman's journey to becoming proud of who she is and what makes her different.”
