Vanessa Hudgens officially cast in Broadway-bound Gigi

It has now been officially confirmed that former Disney star Vanessa Hudgens has been cast in the lead role in the Broadway-bound revival production of Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe's Oscar and Tony Award-winning Gigi.

"I started performing in musicals from a young age, and it has always been my dream to be on Broadway," Hudgens said. "I cannot wait to get back on stage, singing and dancing these songs and living in Gigi's glamorous world."

This production is a re-envisioned adaptation by BAFTA Award-winning playwright and Emmy nominee Heidi Thomas and will be directed by Eric D. Schaeffer, with choreography by Joshua Bergasse, and produced by Jenna Segal.

Gigi is set to play a pre-Broadway engagement in the Eisenhower Theater at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. The show will officially open on 29 January 2015, following previews from 16 January, and will play a limited engagement through to 12 February 2015, before moving on to the Great White Way later in 2015.

Ms Hudgens attended the reading of the musical in July alongside Broadway favourites Corey Cott (Newsies), Kate Burton (Spring Awakening) and Victoria Clark (Cinderella).

Further casting and creative team will be announced in the coming weeks.

Gigi tells the story of "a free-spirited teenage girl living in Paris at the turn of the century. She is groomed by her family to act as a companion to a bored, but extremely wealthy playboy and the pair eventually fall in love."

Gigi is based on the 1944 novel by Colette and was first adapted for the Broadway stage as a comedy play in 1951 by Anita Loos, with a then unknown Audrey Hepburn as its leading lady. Afterwards, it was picked up by the team of Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe, following their success with 'My Fair Lady', and adapted for the 1958 movie musical, which went on to win nine Academy Awards, including Best Picture. The score features tunes such as "Thank Heaven For Little Girls", "I Remember It Well", "The Night They Invented Champagne", and "It's a Bore". Its first outing as a Broadway musical came in November 1973 and won the Tony Award for Best Score in 1974, which included new songs such as "Paris is Paris Again", "I Never Want to Go Home Again", "The Contract", and "In This Wide, Wide World."

Vanessa Hudgens will be making her Broadway debut. She is perhaps best known for her role as Gabriella Montez in Disney's hit franchise "High School Musical". Her other notable film credits include 'Spring Breakers', 'Journey 2: The Mysterious Island', 'Thirteen', 'Sucker Punch', 'Bandslam' and 'Thunderbirds'. She also played the role of Mimi in 'RENT' at the Hollywood Bowl.

- by Tom Millward