Tradition will live on with a new film version of the legendary Broadway musical “Fiddler on the Roof.”
And one of the masterminds behind The Great White Way’s latest iconic production is along for the ride.
Thomas Kail, who directed Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Broadway hits “In the Heights” and “Hamilton,” has been tapped to helm the latest revival of “Fiddler on the Roof.”
MGM will bring another feature film adaptation to the big screen with Kail on board, also as a producer with Dan Jinks and Aaron Harnick, Deadline reported.
Tony Award winning playwright Steven Levenson (of “Dear Evan Hansen” notability) will write the script, based on the rousing musical based on based on the stories of Shalom Aleichem and set in pre-revolutionary Russia circa 1905.
The first production, directed and choreographed by Jerome Robbins, opened on Broadway in 1964 and won nine Tony Awards, including Best Musical.
Revived multiple times on the stage — most recently last year — the landmark story was turned into a 1971 three-time Academy Award winning film directed and produced by Norman Jewison.
“It has been a lifelong dream of mine to direct ‘Fiddler,’ though I always imagined I would do it on stage,” Kail said. “I am overjoyed to have the opportunity to make a new film version of my favorite show with Mike DeLuca at MGM, where so many transcendent musical movies have been made.”
“I’m proud to partner with Dan Jinks, Aaron Harnick and my great pal, Steven Levenson, to honor this work that has profoundly inspired me and millions of others,” he added.
Kail, who was awarded a Kennedy Center Honor in 2018, met Miranda during his graduate studies a Wesleyan University in 1999. The good friends are the co-creators of the hip hop group Freestyle Love Supreme.
The Alexandria, Va., native’s other work includes the acclaimed FX series “Fosse/Verdon” and the 2016 Emmy Award winning TV special “Grease Live!”