Spike Lee Planning “School Daze” Broadway Musical
Spike Lee Has Plans to Make “School Daze” Broadway Musical
Spike Lee’s 1988 “School Daze” is coming to Broadway in the near future. The information comes by way of new reports claiming Lee has intentions on transforming the film – which earned $14.5 million in box office sales – into a Broadway musical.
In 2015, emails were leaked about the Primetime Emmy winning director having intentions on developing a sequel for the original, and conversation about a sequel rose again in 2017, after Lee confirmed the script for the new film would be the similar to the original but set 25 years later.
I had the script for [the sequel] to School Daze… a contemporary version, same school… 25 years later. Hopefully I can get Laurence Fishburne to play Dap… he’ll be the president now of the school. It would deal with issues in HSBCUs today… some of the same stuff from the last film… like the pledging process… but also lots of new stuff… like homophobia… it’s a big subject in it… class issues, color, hair texture… but it’s stuff happening today.
Some of the film’s original cast include Larry Fishburne as Dap Dunlap, Spike Lee as Half-Pint, Tisha Campbell as Jane Toussaint, Giancarlo Esposito as Julian Eaves, and Meadows Kyme as Rachel.
The original film told the story of fraternity and sorority members clashing with other students at a historically black college during their homecoming weekend. It also touched on issues like colorism and hair texture bias within the African-American community.
Lee wrote, produced, and directed the original “School Daze.” What are your thoughts on a Broadway musical? Let us know in the comments. [Page Six]