Fran Fine is heading to Broadway!
Fran Drescher, the creator and star of The Nanny, is adapting her popular show for a Broadway musical alongside her co-creator and ex-husband Peter Marc Jacobson, PEOPLE confirms.
Drescher, 62, has also recruited Crazy Ex-Girlfriend‘s Rachel Bloom and Adam Schlesinger to write the music. The Broadway production will be directed by Marc Bruni, who was behind the hit production Beautiful: The Carole King Musical.
“We are SO excited to be working on the Broadway musical The Nanny,” Drescher and Jacobson said in a statement obtained by PEOPLE. “We’re equally excited that the wildly talented Rachel Bloom will be writing the lyrics and music with the fantastic Adam Schlesinger, and to have the brilliant Marc Bruni directing.”
“Nobody is cast yet — we’re plotting — but we feel confident we will find a fabulous actress who is funny, charming and has a great voice.”
Drescher added, “Of course I would do it myself. But we’d have to change the title to The Granny.”
The Nanny, a CBS television situation comedy. Premiere episode aired November 3, 1993. Pictured from left is Charles Shaughnessy (as Maxwell Sheffield), Fran Drescher (as Fran Fine). Image dated dated July 17, 1998
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Bloom said, “The Nanny was a fundamental part of my childhood because it was the first time I saw an openly Jewish female protagonist on television. The story of Fran Fine, however, is a universal one that has touched the hearts of people of every race, religion and orientation.”
She added, “I am so proud to be using the characters established by The Nanny to tell a new story about one woman’s journey to becoming proud of who she is and what makes her different.”
The Nanny aired for six seasons from 1993 to 1999. The show catapulted Drescher into wider recognition, earning her two Emmy Award nominations and two Golden Globe nominations during the show’s run.
In April 2019, Drescher said she was collaborating with her ex-husband Jacobson and Bloom on “something that I think The Nanny fans are going to be very excited about. Something Nanny related.”
In October 2018, Drescher spoke to PeopleTV’s Chatter about a potential revival of the popular sitcom saying she’s onboard for the project despite little interest from networks.
Fran Drescher Wants Cardi B to Play Her Daughter in a Reboot of The Nanny
“I’m totally down with doing it,” she said at the time. “I don’t know what is going on with some of these networks out there because they do not seem to be hip to the fact that there’s an obsession amongst millennials for the show and moi!”
Still, that didn’t stop the actress from revealing her dream cast member for the show’s unofficial revival.
“I wanna do a sitcom with Cardi B,” Drescher said. “Wouldn’t she be great as my daughter?”
