#MeToo is headed to the stage.
One of Harvey Weinstein’s many alleged victims has turned her tale of career-ending sexual harassment into a musical that’s set to be screened in Massachusetts this November, reports said Monday.
“The Right Girl,” based on the real-life account of the musical’s co-writer, Louisette Geiss, will make its debut at the Barrington Stage Company in Pittsfield, Mass., on Nov. 1, Deadline reported.
The musical centers around a fictional character named “Eleanor Stark” but “almost all of the dialogue, lyrics and situations” in the play have come directly from Geiss and other Weinstein survivors, co-writer Howard Kagan said in a statement, according to the outlet.
Geiss first went public with her story at the height of the #MeToo movement in October 2017 and revealed that Weinstein had masturbated in front of her during a 2008 meeting at his Sundance Film Festival office. The meeting was supposed to be a discussion about Geiss’ screenwriting career but ended with her running out of the room — a move that she said shattered her career.
“To create this musical over the last two years was cathartic,” Geiss said of the play.
“The creative team sat down with more than 20 of my fellow survivors, women who are victims of about a dozen different men in entertainment. Only portions of their stories have been recounted in the press to date, so by presenting these women’s stories in their own words in an entertaining format like musical theater, we hope they resonate with an even bigger audience and empower other survivors to speak out,” the writer continued.
“I worked diligently to reclaim my creative spirit again and have audiences see my work. I am particularly grateful to all the women who joined us as contributors and told us their stories, and who will share in the financial success of this show when tickets go on sale.”
Kagan said the “goal, from day one, has been to amplify and honor these women’s stories, and encourage audiences to help them change the world.”
The production’s official synopsis centers around Stark, whose “entire life” has been leading up to the moment she becomes the chief creative officer of the “legendary movie studio, Ambrosia Productions.”
“As Eleanor rises to the top of her game working side by side for years with the industry’s most respected men, we learn that one of them has been abusing women all along. What role does she play in the story of Hollywood’s most fiercely guarded secret?” the synopsis teases.
The musical will be presented in a film version to a live audience and includes music written by Diane Warren, an 11-time Oscar nominee, and is directed and choreographed by Tony Award winner Susan Stroman, one of the brains behind the Broadway hit “The Producers.”
The musical was set to premiere at an off-Broadway or regional theater had it not been for the COVID-19 pandemic, Kagan said.
“When the world changed in March, we changed course to rehearse and film this live theater performance in a way that kept everyone involved safe and socially distanced, while providing all of us a chance to work in the theater industry we love,” the co-writer said.
Barrington Stage has cut rows from their 520-seat theater to fit 160 industry professionals and members of the general public who can enjoy the show while safely socially distancing. It’s been retrofitted with a new ventilation system and will be sanitized using electrostatic sprayers and disinfectant sprays and wipes.