‘Soap Dish’ Is Broadway Bound

It's official: Soap Dish is headed for Broadway. Nearly two decades after the film satirized and skewered the soap genre, it's being developed as a music play that will ultimately land on Broadway.

George Stiles and Anthony Drewe, the British geniuses behind Mary Poppins and other popular musicals based on films, are currently writing Soap Dish. They give a brief glimpse of their plans on their official website.

Legendary entertainment blogger Roger Friedman reports that the new show will include several iconic scenes from the film, including one where a soap writer (played in the film by Whoopi Goldberg) takes the show's aging star (played in the film by Sally Field and long rumored to be based on Susan Lucci) to a shopping mall so her fans will recognize her and ask for autographs.

Newly unemployed soap stars should be cast in the new musical, Friedman wisely suggests. I can't think of a better choice than Deidre Hall and Drake Hogestyn to play the two leads, who were portrayed by Sally Field and Kevin Kline in the film version. Both beloved actors, of course, are out of work since being cut as John and Marlena by Days of Our Lives last year, and they would be a huge draw. (DOOL Guide Gwen Morett talks about the end of the John and Marlena storyline in a great 2009-in-review piece.)

Which soap stars would you like to see take the stage in Soap Dish? Share in the comments! I'll collect all of the responses and pass them on to George Stiles and Anthony Drewe.