‘The Karate Kid’ is Being Adapted into a Stage Musical
The Karate Kid is getting new life in the form of a stage musical.
Per Entertainment Weekly, Robert Mark Kamen, the film’s screenwriter, will be writing the book for the stage version of the hit 1984 film, while music and lyrics will be written by Drew Gasparini.
In a statement on the adaptation, Kamen said, “On June 13, 1982, my daughter Alessandra (Ali with an i) was born. Two days later, when she arrived home from the hospital, I sat down with her in one of those little rocking cradles at my side, and began to write ‘The Karate Kid.’ A year later, in October of 1983, principal photography began. A year after that, in June of 1984, exactly two years after I wrote the script, the film was in theaters. And there it stayed for nearly six months. Five sequels and two television shows later, amazingly the characters and the story still resonates with audiences the way it did when the film first was released.”
Kamen continued, “Never in my wildest dreams did I think this little movie would reach across generations the way it has. And beyond my wildest dreams did I think what started out as a love letter to my devotion to Okinawan Karate and the man who taught me would become a full-blown Broadway musical. But here it is. Here I am. And here is hoping that what comes to the stage brings the same joy and relevance ‘The Karate Kid’ has brought to countless kids and their parents for the past 35 years. Go figure.”
So far, there’s no timeline on when fans can expect The Karate Kid musical to premiere on stage, but it certainly has the potential to be the best musical…around.
