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Rick Miramontez / Aaron Meier
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE ON WEDNESDAY, APRIL 23, PLEASE

“10 THINGS I HATE ABOUT YOU,”
THE BELOVED FILM
IS BEING ADAPTED FOR THE STAGE AS A NEW MUSICAL

SCORE BY
CARLY RAE JEPSEN & ETHAN GRUSKA

BOOK BY
LENA DUNHAM & JESSICA HUANG

DIRECTED & CHOREOGRAPHED BY
CHRISTOPHER WHEELDON

MUSIC SUPERVISION, ARRANGEMENTS, AND ORCHESTRATIONS BY
TOM KITT

New York, NY (April 23, 2025) – Today, producer Mike Bosner announced 10 Things I Hate About You, based on the beloved 1999 Touchstone Pictures film written by Karen McCullah and Kirsten “Kiwi” Smith, is being adapted for the stage as a new musical. The show is being developed for Broadway with a score by GRAMMY^® Award nominee Carly Rae Jepsen and GRAMMY Award winner Ethan Gruska, book by Emmy Award^® nominee and Golden Globe Award^® winner Lena Dunham and award-winning playwright Jessica Huang, direction and choreography by two-time Tony Award^® winner Christopher Wheeldon, and music supervision, arrangements, and orchestrations by two-time Tony Award winner Tom Kitt.

10 Things I Hate About You, a retelling of William Shakespeare’s 1594 play The Taming of the Shrew, launched the careers of Heath Ledger, Julia Stiles, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt and showcased a breakout performance by Alison Janney. The film was a box office hit and gained cult status thanks to its keen and witty examination of teenage life in a 1990s Seattle suburb and the nuanced portrayal of sisters Kat and Bianca Stratford.

Since its release, the film has been celebrated by critics and fans and was included in EW’s list of Best High School Movies of All Time. Ledger’s iconic performance of the Frankie Valli and Bob Gaudio’s classic “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You” in the film has become inspiration for numerous marriage proposals and viral videos.

10 Things I Hate About You is produced by Bosner by special arrangement with Buena Vista Theatrical.

BIOGRAPHIES

Carly Rae Jepsen (Score). Multi-platinum GRAMMY nominated and Juno and Billboard Music Award winner Jepsen’s knack for distilling a sea of emotions into brilliant songcraft has wooed critics as deeply as fans. The singer, songwriter first burst onto the international scene in 2012 with the sly and sublime “Call Me Maybe.” That blockbuster hit from her breakthrough album, Kiss, topped charts in over 47 countries and earned her two GRAMMY® nominations for Best Pop Solo Performance and Song of the Year. Since then, she’s amassed even more acclaim across the music spectrum. Jepsen’s 2015 critically lauded and culture-defining E*MO*TION landed on multiple year-end “Best Of” lists while her 2019 follow-up, Dedicated, covered even more musical and emotional ground with The Atlantic calling the album “brilliant.” Jepsen emerged from a period of isolation in the fall of 2022 with The Loneliest Time expanding on the emotionally potent songwriting and effervescent sound that Jepsen has showcased on past work. Jepsen’s B sides projects have always offered a deep dive into her creative process with fans anxiously awaiting the release of E*MO*TION Side B, Dedicated Side B, and The Loveliest Time.

In addition to her career as a recording artist, Jepsen landed the lead role in the 2014 Broadway production of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella and later starred as the iconic Pink Lady, Frenchy, in Fox’s four-time Emmy Award-winning musical Grease: Live. Jepsen also voiced the character of Odette in the animated movie Leap! which featured her hit single “Cut To The Feeling.”

Ethan Gruska (Score) is a record producer, songwriter, and composer from Los Angeles, California. He has collaborated with a wide range of artists, including Phoebe Bridgers, Ryan Beatty, Bon Iver, Remi Wolf, Conan Gray, John Legend, and Carly Rae Jepsen.

Beyond his behind-the-scenes work, Gruska is a talented solo artist. After years of touring with his brother and bandmate, Bobby Gruska, he released his debut solo album Slowmotionary in 2017. The record was praised for its minimalist yet expansive sound, highlighting Gruska’s introspective songwriting and nuanced production style. In 2020, he followed up with En Garde, a sonically rich album that experimented with electronic textures and featured collaborations with Moses Sumney, Lianne La Havas, and Phoebe Bridgers. In 2021, he released Preludes, a solo piano album, further showcasing his versatility as a composer.

Known as a multi-instrumentalist and innovative producer, Gruska continues to push his creative boundaries. Recently, musical theater – something he only dabbled in as a child – has resurfaced in his work. What began as a nostalgic curiosity has evolved into a new artistic chapter. With a renewed passion for the stage, he is excited to explore this medium further and bring his unique musical voice to theatrical storytelling.

Lena Dunham (Book) is the ultimate multi-hyphenate – an award-winning actor, writer, director, producer, and philanthropist. This year, she returns to television with Netflix romcom series “Too Much,” which she wrote and directed, starring Megan Stalter and Will Sharpe and co-created with her husband Luis Felber. The series comes from Good Thing Going (GTG) and Universal International Studios’ Working Title Television. GTG was founded in 2018 by Dunham and her producing partner Michael P. Cohen.

In 2024, Dunham starred in and produced Treasure, a multi-generational drama about a New York music journalist (Dunham) traveling to Poland with her father (Stephen Fry). In 2022, Dunham directed and wrote the film adaptation of Catherine Called Birdy starring Bella Ramsey and released her first feature film as a writer-director in over a decade: Sharp Stick.

She produced “Generation” for HBO Max and directed the first episode of HBO’s “Industry.” She is best known for creating and starring in HBO’s “GIRLS,” which earned her eight Emmy nominations and two Golden Globe wins, including Best Actress. She is a New York Times #1 bestselling author and regular contributor to Vogue, The New Yorker and the New York Times.

Jessica Huang (Book) is a playwright and librettist whose work includes: Mother of Exiles (Venturous Award, NNPN Annual Showcase, Rosa Parks Playwriting Award, Paul Stephen Lim Playwriting Award, Kendeda Prize Finalist), The Paper Dreams of Harry Chin (History Theatre, Indiana Repertory Theatre, San Francisco Playhouse, New York Stage and Film Powerhouse Season, Barry and Bernice Stavis Award, Kilroy’s List), Blended 和 (Harmony): The Kim Loo Sisters (History Theatre, Theater Mu, with composer Jacinth Greywoode), and Transmissions in Advance of the Second Great Dying (2022 EMOS Ecodrama prize). Her popular audioplay Song of the Northwoods is available on Audible. She has commissions with Indiana Repertory Theatre, Manhattan Theatre Club, and TimeLine Theatre, and is developing an original television show with WBTV.

She is the Indiana Repertory Theatre James Still Playwright in Residence, a Venturous Playwright Fellow at the Playwrights’ Center, and was the inaugural 4 Seasons Resident Playwright. She has received awards from the National Alliance for Musical Theatre, the National Theatre Conference, the Jerome Foundation, the Dramatists Guild, and the Bret Adams and Paul Reisch Foundation. She has developed work at Hedgebrook, the Hermitage, the MacDowell Colony, New Harmony Project, New York Stage and Film, and Space on Ryder Farm, among many others. She is a four-time Playwrights’ Center fellow, and has been a member of Ars Nova Play Group, Civilians R&D Group, and Page 73’s Interstate 73. She is a graduate of the Playwrights Program at Juilliard. www.jessica-huang.com.

Christopher Wheeldon (Director & Choreographer) trained at The Royal Ballet School and joined The Royal Ballet in 1991. In 1993, he joined New York City Ballet and was promoted to Soloist in 1998. He was named NYCB’s first Resident Choreographer in July 2001. Since then, Wheeldon has created and staged productions for the world’s major ballet companies.

Wheeldon is Artistic Associate of The Royal Ballet where he has created many works including Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and The Winter’s Tale, both of which were co-productions with The National Ballet of Canada. He has also choreographed for the Metropolitan Opera, created ballet sequences for the feature film Center Stage (2000) and Sweet Smell of Success on Broadway (2002), created a special excerpt for the Closing Ceremony of the London 2012 Olympics and was the Artistic Director for Les Arts Decoratif’s Fashion Forward exhibit in Paris (2016).

In 2014, Wheeldon directed and choreographed the musical version of An American in Paris, which had productions in Paris, on Broadway, and in London. Most recently he directed and choreographed MJ The Musical (2022), both winning four Tony Awards, including Best Choreography. The latter is currently on Broadway, touring in America, London’s West End (Olivier Award for Best Theatre Choreographer), Hamburg, and Sydney.

His many other awards include an Outer Critics Award for Best Choreography and Direction, the Martin E. Segal Award from Lincoln Center, the American Choreography Award, the Dance Magazine Award, multiple London Critics’ Circle Awards, the Leonard Massine Prize, the Benois de la Danse and an Olivier Award. In 2016, Mr. Wheeldon was named an Order of the British Empire (OBE) and was made an Honorary Fellow of American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Tom Kitt (Music Supervision, Arrangements, and Orchestrations) is a two-time Tony, two-time Emmy, two-time Grammy, and Pulitzer Prize Award winner. As a musical theater composer, he has written the music for six Broadway shows: Next to Normal (Tony Award, Olivier nomination), If/Then (Tony nomination), Almost Famous (Tony nomination), Flying Over Sunset (Tony nomination), High Fidelity, and Bring it On, The Musical. His work for the stage has also been seen Off-Broadway at Second Stage (Next to Normal, Superhero), the Public Theater (The Visitor, Shakespeare in the Park), and he has worked at some of the most prestigious regional theaters including the Old Globe, Arena Stage, Berkeley Rep, the Signature Theater, and ART. In addition, Kitt’s Broadway credits as an orchestrator include: Next to Normal (Tony Award), Hell’s Kitchen (Tony nomination, Grammy Award), The SpongeBob Musical (Tony nomination), Jagged Little Pill (Tony nomination, Grammy Award), Almost Famous, Head Over Heels, Everyday Rapture, and American Idiot.  Film and television credits include the Pitch Perfect films, “Grease Live,” NBC’s “Rise,” “Up Here,” “Royal Pains,” “Penny Dreadful,” “Sesame Street,” and the Disney Channel original movie, Freaky Friday, based on his musical adaptation that was co-written with Bridget Carpenter and Brian Yorkey. Kitt is a Sony Masterworks artist, with whom he recorded his debut album, Reflect in 2021.

Mike Bosner (Producer) is the producer of Shucked, the Tony Award winning and Grammy nominated Broadway phenomenon that played the Nederlander Theater. The show will go on to have productions in London’s West End, Australia, and is currently on a North American Tour.

Bosner first came on the scene serving as a lead producer of the Tony, Olivier, and Grammy winning smash hit Broadway musical Beautiful – The Carole King Musical with then partners, Paul Blake and SONY ATV Music Publishing. In addition to the $260 million Beautiful grossed on Broadway alone, the show went on to productions across the world including a North American tour, London’s West End, UK tour, Australia, and Japan. After Beautiful, Bosner produced the Broadway revival of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Sunset Boulevard, starring Tony Award-winner Glenn Close and featuring an unprecedented 40-piece orchestra.

Recently, Bosner entered into a new joint venture with AEG Presents. Under the venture, he and AEG CEO Jay Marciano look for the cross-pollination between Broadway and the music industry, sourcing, developing, and producing content that can reach a variety of platforms with the combined power of Bosner’s theatrical acumen and AEG’s worldwide infrastructure.

Upcoming projects for Bosner include the stage adaptation of the Touchstone hit film Ten Things I Hate About You which he will do in partnership with Buena Vista Theatrical. The show features a score by Grammy nominees Carly Rae Jepsen & Ethan Gruska, and a book by Emmy nominee and Golden Globe Winner Lena Dunham & award-winning playwright Jessica Huang. Christopher Wheeldon, Tony winner for MJ The Musical and An American in Paris, will direct and choreograph.

Bosner was recently elected to The Broadway League Board Of Governors to help usher in a new era of content creation, marketing, and worldwide business acumen. This past November, he was one of only two members of the entire Broadway community awarded to the 2023 Crains 40 Under 40 List.

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