Coda, Siân Heder’s triple-Oscar-nominated drama about a hearing person in a deaf family who discovers her singing talent, is getting a musical.
CODA producers Vendôme Pictures and Pathé are partnering with Tony Award-winning Deaf West Theatre to develop a stage musical adaptation of the film, the companies unveiled on Wednesday.
The news comes on the heels of CODA‘s best picture win at the Producers Guild of America Awards, a prize often seen as a harbinger for the Academy Awards.
PGA award-winning producers Philippe Rousselet and Fabrice Gianfermi of Vendôme and Jerome Seydoux of Pathé co-produced CODA together with Patrick Wachsberger. Vendôme also co-produced La Famille Bélier, the original French film on which the U.S. version is based.
Emilia Jones stars in CODA as the 17-year-old Ruby, the sole hearing member of a deaf family, a CODA, or child of deaf adults. But when Ruby joins her high school’s choir club and discovers her gift for singing, she finds herself torn between her obligations to her family and the pursuit of her own dreams. The film premiered in Sundance, where AppleTV+ snatched it up in a record-breaking global deal reportedly valued at $25 million.
“In the movie there is a scene where the deaf members of the Rossi family, confronted with an inaccessible school performance, take in Ruby’s song through the joy of others in the audience,” said DJ Kurs, artistic director of Deaf West Theatre. “This is an opportunity, then, to bring the story full circle by bringing it back to members of the deaf community and by making the music accessible through our signed and sung live adaptation of the movie.”
Deaf West, Vendôme and Pathé are currently out to stage directors, composers and writers for the musical project.
Founded in Los Angeles in 1991, Deaf West Theatre (DWT) takes its inspiration from deaf culture and the expressive power of sign language, combining ASL with spoken English in its performances. DWT is currently collaborating with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Gustavo Dudamel to present a new production of Beethoven’s opera Fidelio at Walt Disney Hall. Recent productions include The Solid of Life of Sugar Water by Jack Thorne; Our Town, a co-production with the Pasadena Playhouse; and the Tony-nominated Spring Awakening the Musical.
Source: HollyWood
