Artemis Fowl is headed to the stage.
A musical based on the children’s fantasy novel by Eoin Colfer (and its film adaptation) is in development, Playbill reports.
Colfer’s novel, published in 2001 by Hyperion, follows the title character, a 12-year-old millionaire and criminal mastermind who finds himself in trouble after he kidnaps a fairy. A critic for Kirkus wrote of the book, “Readers familiar with Sherlock Holmes, as well as an array of modern fantasists from Roald Dahl on, will find plenty of homage paid in this savagely funny page-turner.” Colfer published seven more books in the series, as well as a spinoff series, The Fowl Twins.
The film adaptation, released in 2020 by Disney+, was directed by Kenneth Branagh and starred Ferdia Shaw, Lara McDonnell, Josh Gad, Colin Farrell, and Judi Dench. The movie was savaged by critics.
The musical adaptation, which held a private workshop last week, is directed by Scott Graham, with a book by Colfer and music by Liam Bates and Colfer.
Colfer said in a statement, “Theatre is my first love. I learned to read running lines with my mother when I was four years old, and the first thing I ever wrote for public consumption was a play about the Norse gods for my fourth class Christmas show. So when my book Artemis Fowl became a worldwide hit some decades later, I immediately thought that this would be my chance to get a musical onto a stage.”
Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.
