Amazon is developing a contemporary musical television series inspired by Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. It comes from Spring Awakening‘s Steven Sater, Insatiable creator Lauren Gussis, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend executive producer Marc Webb and Ryan Seacrest Prods. CBS TV Studios, where Gussis, Webb and RSP have had deals, is the studio, co-producing with Amazon Studios.
Written by Sater and Gussis with Webb set to direct, the untitled series tells the complicated love story between a young man and biological young woman who, over the course of the series, begins to identify as gender-fluid. In order to hold onto the love of his life, our young male hero writes an original musical version of Twelfth Night for his beloved to star in and perform over winter break. But they’re not alone — a group of college kids find themselves sequestered on an empty snowbound campus — and when the magic of the play kicks in, everyone involved ends up exploring every manner of sexuality and gender identity.
Longtime Sater collaborator Duncan Sheik is attached to co-write the songs in the pilot with Sater. They co-wrote Spring Awakening together, and each won two Tony Awards for it. Sater and Gussis executive produce alongside Webb, who also helmed the pilot for musical dramedy series Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, and RSP’s Nina Wass and Ryan Seacrest.
