Bruce Lee is subject of new Broadway show

Musical will include martial arts, Chinese opera, pop music

Columbia Pictures / AP file

Late martial-arts star Bruce Lee will be the subject of a new Broadway musical incorporating Chinese opera and pop music.

updated 3:55 p.m. ET May 21, 2008

NEW YORK - Does Bruce Lee, that legendary martial arts man, have a future on Broadway?

It appears so, with the announcement Tuesday by Elephant Eye Theatrical of “Bruce Lee: Journey to the West,” a new musical slated for New York sometime during the 2010-11 season.

No casting yet for the role of Lee, who died in 1973 at the age of 32, but the show will be directed by Bartlett Sher, who is winning acclaim this season for his direction of the Lincoln Center Theatre revival of “South Pacific.”

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“Bruce Lee: Journey to the West” will have a book by David Henry Hwang, author of “M. Butterfly” and a score by David Yazbeck, who wrote the music and lyrics for “The Full Monty” and “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.” The choreography will be by Dou Dou Huang, artistic director of the Shanghai Song and Dance Ensemble.

Besides martial arts, the musical will feature Chinese opera, pop music and more as it traces Lee’s journey to film stardom.

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