Paradise Found: Harold Prince to bring new musical to Broadway in 2010

Variety reports that Tony Award winning producer and director Harold Prince is to helm a new musical, Paradise Found, at London's Menier Chocolate Factory in the Spring of 2010.

Prince, who will co-diret the musical with Susan Stroman (The Producers), says he will bring the production to Broadway in the middle of 2010.

Prince made the announcement in Las Vegas at the First international confab for fans of 'Phantom of the Opera.' The producer also announced that John Cullum, Mandy Patinkin, Shuler Hensley, Judy Kaye and Emily Skinner are all expected to take lead roles.

The musical is adapted from the novel Paradise Found by Viennese author Joseph Roth, and will feature lyrics by Ellen Fitzhugh, set to music by Johann Strauss II, orchestrated by Jonathan Tunick.

Variety reports that the story "centers on an impotent Shah (Cullum) with 139 wives. The ruler's eunuch (Patinkin) convinces him to travel to Vienna, where the Shah falls in love with the empress of the Austro-Hungarian Empire."

Harold Prince and Susan Stroman last collaborated together on the 1994 Broadway revival of 'Show Boat,' which Prince directed and Stroman choreographed,

Two of London's Menier Chocolate Factory production 'A Little Night Music' and 'La Cage aux Folles' are bowing on Broadway this year. Last year the company first production to transfer to Broadway, 'Sunday in the Park With George,' earned eight Tony Nominations - including Best Musical.