Get Ready To Storm The Castle When ‘The Princess Bride’ Musical Hits Broadway

With its highly quotable script and and devout cult fanbase, it's nearly inconceivable that there hasn't been a Princess Bride musical yet. There have been plans to adapt the classic movie for the stage for years now, but those plans have been continually stalled. That is, until now. Fans can rejoice because their wish is coming true: The Princess Bride is coming to Broadway, so it's time to get ready to storm the castle.

The Princess Bride is a beloved fantasy-comedy movie from 1987 that tells the story of Westley (Cary Elwes), who must rescue his beloved Princess Buttercup (Robin Wright) from a repugnant prince who she is being forced to marry. Along the way, Westley teams up with a number of memorably wacky characters like Inigo Montoya (Mandy Patinkin), Miracle Max (Billy Crystal), and Vizzini (Wallace Shawn).

The Princess Bride musical adaptation has some big shoes to fill, since the movie has such a devoted fanbase. But luckily, the musical has some experienced minds behind it. Disney is producing it, and they've really got the whole fairy tale-musical thing covered with their successful screen-to-stage shows Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid, and Aladdin, just to name a few. It makes perfect sense for a movie as popular as The Princess Bride to join all these other Disney classics on Broadway. Additionally, plans are being made for the score of the musical to be written by David Yazbek, who won a Tony Award last year for writing the score of The Band's Visit. Yazbek is also currently working on another movie-to-musical adaptation of Tootsie, so the music for The Princess Bride is in good hands.

This actually isn't the first time a Princess Bride musical has been in the works. William Goldman, who wrote the screenplay for The Princess Bride, was involved in several previous attempts to get the story on a Broadway stage, including one that was halted in 2007. Goldman died in November 2018, so unfortunately he won't be a part of this upcoming production. But, his legacy will live on in the countless quotable lines that will almost definitely make their way into the stage production. I mean, how could you have a production of The Princess Bride without Inigo Montoya introducing himself, telling Count Rugen he killed his father, and preparing him to die?

Because the movie holds such a soft spot in so many fans' hearts, many people already are holding the musical up to some pretty high expectations.

The Princess Bride follows in a long history of funny fairy tales finding their way to Broadway. Other movies that have also skewered the fairy tale genre similarly to The Princess Bride have had really successful adaptations on Broadway, like 2004's Spamalot (based on Monty Python and the Holy Grail) and 2008's Shrek. It's easy to see how The Princess Bride could easily enjoy a successful run on Broadway like both of those shows, especially thanks to its cross-generational fanbase. There's no word yet on when the musical will begin rehearsals, but hopefully fans will get to see Westley and the whole gang live on stage soon.