Breaking: Jon M. Chu Will Direct Musical Adaptation of CRAZY RICH ASIANS

A musical adaptation of Crazy Rich Asians is set to hit the Broadway stage! The contemporary romantic comedy is based on the 2013 novel by Kevin Kwan and 2018 Warner Bros. Pictures film directed by  Jon M. Chu.  

The timeline for a pre-Broadway engagement will be announced shortly.

Making his Broadway directorial debut following completion of his two-part film adaptation of Wicked and his critically acclaimed film adaptation of In The Heights, Jon M. Chu will revisit CRAZY RICH ASIANS for the stage with a book by Leah Nanako Winkler, music by Helen Park and lyrics by Amanda Green & Tat Tong. 

CRAZY RICH ASIANS takes a fun, engaging and hilarious look at what can happen when young love collides with old money.

Based on Kevin Kwan’s 2013 #1 New York Times bestselling novel CRAZY RICH ASIANS, the 2018 Warner Bros. film of the same name was directed by Jon M. Chu, with a screenplay by Peter Chiarelli and Adele Lim and starred Constance Wu, Henry Golding, Gemma Chan, Lisa Lu, Awkwafina, Ken Jeong, and Michelle Yeoh.  The highly acclaimed multi-award-winning film, CRAZY RICH ASIANS was #1 at the box-office for three weeks in a row. 

Leah Nanako Winkler (Book) is an award-winning playwright and TV Writer from Kamakura, Japan, and Lexington Kentucky. Her plays include God Said This, Two Mile Hollow, Kentucky, Hot Asian Doctor Husband, and The Brightest Thing in the World as well as many short plays all produced Off-Broadway and regionally. Accolades and fellowships:  Yale Drama Series Prize, Mark O’Donnell Prize from The Actors Fund and Playwrights Horizons, Audible’s Emerging Playwrights Fund, Jerome New York Fellow at the Lark, Francesca Primus Prize, and a 2020 Steinberg Playwright Award. TV credits include A24’s “Ramy,” where she along with the other writers won a Peabody Award, “Love Life” on HBO MAX, and “Schmigadoon!” among others. She is currently a co-executive producer and writer on “Elsbeth.”

 Helen Park (Music) is a Tony Award-nominated composer as well as a three-time Drama Desk Nominee, and recipient of the Lucille Lortel and Richard Rodgers Awards. She is the first Asian female composer to be produced on Broadway.  Park wrote music and lyrics, music produced and orchestrated the original Broadway musical KPOP. In addition, she wrote songs for the Oscar-nominated Netflix animated feature film Over The Moon and is currently the Executive Music Producer and songwriter for the British animated television series “Isadora Moon.”  Park is an alumnus of NYU’s Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program and the BMI Lehman Engel Advanced Musical Theater Workshop. She is a Dramatists Guild Council member. 

Amanda Green (Lyrics) is a Tony-nominated lyricist and composer. Broadway: On The Twentieth Century (Additional Lyrics) starring Kristin Chenoweth; Hands On A Hardbody (Lyrics, Co-Composer) working with guitarist Trey Anastasio and Doug Wright (Tony Award Nomination for Best Score, 2 Drama Desk Award Nominations for Music & Lyrics, Outer Critics Circle Nomination for Best Score); Bring It On (Co-Lyricist) working with Lin Manuel Miranda, Tom Kitt, and Jeff Whitty (Tony Award Nomination for Best Musical, Drama Desk Nomination for Lyrics); High Fidelity (Lyrics). Amanda is the first woman to win the Frederic Loewe Award for Outstanding Composition from the Dramatists Guild. TV: “Peter Pan Live” (NBC; Additional Lyrics) starring Christopher Walken and Allison Williams; “The Kennedy Center Honors 2014” (CBS; Special Lyrics) for the Tom Hanks Tribute; “The Wonder Pets” (Nick, Jr). Amanda writes songs with and for Trey Anastasio for his bands PHISH and TAB.

TAT TONG (Lyrics) is a Singaporean record producer and songwriter who is based in Los Angeles. His discography has gone 80× platinum, with over 20 #1 hits out of over 60 Top 20 hits worldwide, and he is a member of production-writing duo The Swaggernautz with American Idol Season 10 alumnus Jovany Javier.  As a producer-songwriter Tong's discography spans North America, Central/South America, Europe, Asia, and Australia, including artists like Luis Fonsi, Troye Sivan, Hailee Steinfeld, Monsta X, Kaskade, CNCO, Sebastian Yatra, CD9, Aitana, SHINee, JJ Lin, Vanness Wu, and Wang Lee Hom. 

Jon M. Chu (Director) is known for his visually stunning blockbuster films, as well as his kinetic work across various genres, from groundbreaking series to commercials and films. Most recently, Chu directed Universal Pictures’ highly anticipated WICKED, starring Oscar-nominated actress Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande. Part 1 of the feature-film adaptation of the record-breaking musical phenomenon will release in theaters on November 27. He also announced his book, Viewfinder, an inspiring memoir of belonging, creativity and learning to see who you really are, which is releasing on July 23. 

His recent projects include the critically acclaimed adaptation of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Tony Award-winning musical IN THE HEIGHTS for Warner Bros. Studios as well as the worldwide phenomenon CRAZY RICH ASIANS, which was nominated for numerous awards, including a SAG Award, a Golden Globe and PGA Award. It is one of the top 10 highest grossing romantic comedies of all time and the highest in a decade. It was also the first contemporary studio picture in more than 25 years to feature an all-Asian cast and opened up a new chapter in Asian-American representation in Hollywood.  

 Chu is in production on WICKED: PART TWO, which is set to release on November 26, 2025, and is also in development on Dr. Seuss’ OH, THE PLACES YOU’LL GO! with Warner Bros and JJ Abrams’ Bad Robot, which will be his first animated film. His previous films include GI. JOE: RETALIATION, NOW YOU SEE ME 2, Justin Bieber’S NEVER SAY NEVER and many more representing over 1.3 billion dollars in the worldwide box office.  

Additionally, his unique storytelling ability has earned him the honor of being on the Hollywood Reporter’s Power 100 list as well as Variety’s New Hollywood Leaders.  

KEVIN KWAN is the author of Crazy Rich Asians, the international bestselling novel that has been translated into 40 languages. Its sequel, China Rich Girlfriend, was released in 2015, and Rich People Problems, the final book in the trilogy, followed in 2017. For several weeks in 2018, the Crazy Rich Asians trilogy commanded the top three positions of the New York Times bestseller list - an almost unprecedented single-author trifecta, and the film adaptation of Crazy Rich Asians became Hollywood's highest-grossing romantic comedy in over a decade. Sex and Vanity, his most recent novel, hit the New York Times bestseller list in its first week of release and is being adapted into a feature film by Sony Pictures. Kevin has been named by Time Magazine as one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World.

Warner Bros. Theatre VENTURES, under the supervision of Executive Vice President & Managing Director Mark Kaufman, was most recently represented on Broadway, and presently on first national tour, by the Tony nominated musical Beetlejuice. The division is currently represented on Broadway by The Notebook, and The Outsiders, and earlier this season with Days of Wine and Roses.  Warner Bros. Theatre Ventures additionally produced the West End, Broadway, and first national tour of the Olivier-winning musical Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, the Broadway stage adaptation of Stephen King’s Misery, the Tony-winning The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, the Tony-winning musical The Bridges of Madison County, and the Broadway holiday hit Elf. Upcoming projects in development include musical versions of Dave, 17 Again, A Star is Born as well as a dramatic adaptation of Dog Day Afternoon by Stephen Adly Guirgis. Additionally, the division oversees the licensing of stage rights to Warner Bros vast media library including The Wizard of Oz, 42nd Street, Singing in the Rain, Christmas in Connecticut, Summer Stock, The Wedding Singer, The Bodyguard, The Color Purple, A Christmas Story, and Hairspray.

 

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