NEW BROADWAY-BOUND ADAPTATION OF “POLLY: THE MUSICAL” NOW IN DEVELOPMENT
Press Contact:
Rick Miramontez / Sam Corbett
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, PLEASE
NEW STAGE ADAPTATION OF
“POLLY: THE MUSICAL”
IS NOW IN DEVELOPMENT
DIRECTED AND CHOREOGRAPHED BY DEBBIE ALLEN
BOOK BY LENA WAITHE AND MICHAEL BENJAMIN WASHINGTON
MUSIC AND LYRICS BY SIEDAH GARRETT AND JORIAH KWAMÉ
Head shots for the creative team can be downloaded here.
New York, NY (June 3, 2025) – Producer Brian Anthony Moreland announced today the development of Polly: The Musical, a new Broadway-bound production based on the Disney television movie with teleplay by William Blinn and the novel by Eleanor H. Porter. Two-time Tony® Award winner Debbie Allen, who helmed the original 1989 film, will return to direct and choreograph, with Emmy Award winner Lena Waithe and Michael Benjamin Washington providing the book, with music and lyrics by Grammy Award winner Siedah Garrett and Joriah Kwamé.
Polly sets the classic tale, inspired by the novel by Eleanor Porter, in Alabama in the 1950s. Polly, a plucky orphan with a relentless sense of optimism, is forced to contend with negativity and conflict in a small town under segregation. The 1989 film featured Keshia Knight-Pulliam, Phylicia Rashad, and the final film performance from Butterfly McQueen, and was followed by a 1990 sequel, Polly: Comin’ Home.
Allen said, ““The message of Polly is one that we need today more than ever. That the power of a single positive voice can make change in the face of adversity and divisiveness; that the voice of a child could bring unity and hope — is what Polly is about. This musical, with its joy and its unbridled hope, will shine a light on a path for every audience to find unity in their community.”
Moreland said, “This team of creative all-stars is exactly what Polly needs to bring her story to the stage. With Debbie’s brilliant hands back on the steering wheel, I couldn’t be more thrilled to be working together with them to share this experience with the world.”
General management will be by KGM Theatricals. Additional members of the creative team and casting will be announced at a later date.
BIOGRAPHIES
Debbie Allen, a BFA graduate of Howard University in Theater and Classical Greek Studies, holds five honorary Doctorate degrees, has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, was named a Kennedy Center honoree, and is an award-winning director/choreographer who has choreographed the Academy Awards a record ten times. She has directed and choreographed for legendary artists such as Michael Jackson, Mariah Carey, James Earl Jones, Phylicia Rashad, Janet Jackson, Whitney Houston, Gwen Verdon, Lena Horne, Sammy Davis, Jr., Dolly Parton, Savion Glover, and most recently Tyler Perry’s A Jazzman’s Blues.
Ms. Allen received the Golden Globe for her role as Lydia Grant in the 1980s hit series Fame, the Drama Desk Award for her portrayal of Anita in West Side Story, and is a four-time Emmy Award winner in Choreography for Fame (twice), The Motown 25th, and Christmas on the Square. She has also received the Emmy Award for Outstanding Movie Made for Television as Executive Producer of Christmas on the Square, and the Governors Award at the 73rd Emmys. Awarded ten Image Awards as director, actress, choreographer and producer for Fame, A Different World, Motown 25th, The Academy Awards, The Debbie Allen Special and Amistad, she has also directed the best that TV offers, including Scandal, How To Get Away With Murder, Jane The Virgin, Empire, Insecure, Ms. Pat, and Samuel L. Jackson’s The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey. She currently serves as Executive Producing Director of Grey’s Anatomy, where she recurs as Dr. Catherine Fox. She is the daughter of poet Vivian Ayers and Dr. Andrew Allen, wife to NBA All-Star Norman Nixon, sister to Phylicia Rashad, Tex Allen and Hugh Allen, mother of Vivian and Thump, and grandmother of four.
Lena Waithe is an Emmy-winning writer, producer, actor, and founder of Hillman Grad. Known for Master of None, The Chi, and Queen & Slim, Waithe’s recent producorial credits include the Emmy-nominated documentary Being Mary Tyler Moore, the 2023 Sundance Films A Thousand and One and Kokomo City, as well the Tony-nominated play, Ain’t No Mo’. In November 2024, Waithe launched her podcast series, Legacy Talk. She is represented by WME and Blue Marble Management.
Michael Benjamin Washington’s work as a playwright has been produced and developed at regional theaters including La Jolla Playhouse, Kansas City Repertory Theatre, McCarter Theatre, Hattiloo Theatre, Rattlestick Theatre (NYC), and several sold out engagements of his solo show at The Public Theatre—Joe’s Pub. His political-drama exploring the mastermind of the 1963 March on Washington, Blueprints to Freedom: An Ode to Bayard Rustin (Broadway Publishing), won the San Diego Outer Critics Circle Award and the Edgerton Foundation Award for Outstanding New American Play. As an actor he has been seen in the Signature Theatre revival of Anna Deavere Smith’s solo show Fires In the Mirror (Outer Critics Award; Drama League Award; Antonio Award) and the Tony Award-winning revival of The Boys in the Band (also the Netflix film). His television credits include: NBC’s “American Auto” and “30 Rock”; Netflix’s “Ratched” and “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt”; and currently portraying James Baldwin on the MGM+ gangster drama “Godfather of Harlem” starring Forrest Whitaker.
Siedah Garrett is a Grammy Award-winning and two-time Academy Award-nominated singer/songwriter, best known for co-writing the iconic hit song “Man In The Mirror” for Michael Jackson. Other popular artists to have recorded on Siedah’s original songs include Diana Ross, Quincy Jones, Earth Wind & Fire, Aretha Franklin, Jennifer Hudson, Fantasia, and countless others. Her extensive songwriting credits for film and television include the song “Love You I Do” with Grammy Award-winning composer Henry Krieger for the film adaptation of Dreamgirls, which garnered Garrett a Grammy Award and an Academy Award nomination; also the song “Real In Rio” featuring Anne Hathaway and Jamie Foxx, co-written with Grammy Award-winning and Academy Award-nominated songwriters Sergio Mendes and Carlinhos Brown with Academy Award-nominated composer John Powell, for the animated film Rio, for which she received her second Oscar nomination.
Siedah has now made the transition to lyric-writing for musical theatre. In 2018, she collaborated with Emmy Award-winning and Academy Award-nominated composer John Debney, and the songwriting team of Alan Zachary & Michael Weiner, to create the holiday musical My Silent Night, produced by Richard Kraft, which was commissioned by and premiered in Salzburg, Austria. The musical is now being adapted into a made-for-TV Christmas musical film. Currently, Siedah has been commissioned as principal lyricist for the stage musical production of Will Smith’s hit film, The Pursuit of Happyness, with composer Joriah Kwame and bookwriter Marcus Gardley. In addition, Siedah has signed on to the Broadway-bound musical adaptation of the 1959 film Black Orpheus with composer Carlinhos Brown, being produced by Tony Award-nominated Front Row Productions. Also, two of her songs, “Man In The Mirror” and “Keep The Faith”, her collaboration with Michael Jackson and Grammy Award-winner Glen Ballard, are featured in the Broadway and touring shows MJ the Musical, which has been nominated for 10 Tony Awards, and is the winner of 4.
In 2023, Siedah was selected by the songwriting team of Grammy Award-winning and Tony Award-nominated composers Stephen Bray and Brenda Russell to replace their deceased partner, the legendary Allee Willis, for the The Color Purple musical film, produced by Stephen Spielberg, Oprah Winfrey, Quincy Jones and Scott Sanders. Also, Siedah co-wrote the song “Together All The Way” with Daytime Emmy Award-winning and Academy Award winning composer Kris Bowers for the Netflix hit series Dear White People, which received a nomination for a songwriting award by her peers in the Society of Composers & Lyricists (SCL). Also, her commissioned work with Drama Desk Award-winning composer Andrew Lippa for the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus, premiered last year.
Joriah Kwamé is a NYC-based musical theatre writer. He is best known for writing the hit song “Little Miss Perfect,” which he is currently developing into a full-length stage musical. Alongside Pasek and Paul, he co-wrote the song “Top of the World” for the Sony Pictures film Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile, performed by Shawn Mendes. He was selected for the DreamWorks Theatricals, MTI, and NBCUniversal Emerging Writers Program, where he is creating a stage adaptation of TROLLS. He is a recipient of the 2024 Jonathan Larson Grant, the ASCAP Cole Porter Award, and the Harold Adamson Lyric Award. He won the 2019 Write Out Loud Contest and is a 2020 Johnny Mercer Songwriting Project alum and a 2022–23 Dramatists Guild Foundation Fellow for Musical Theatre. @joriahkwame joriahkwame.com
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