Animal House Coming to Broadway with Barenaked Ladies

Yesterday marked the 30th anniversary of the death of legendary comedic actor John Belushi, and it also was the day chosen to reveal details about an upcoming musical based on one of his best known movies, “National Lampoon’s Animal House.” It was also announced that the production will be scored by Canadian rock group Barenaked Ladies.

Universal Pictures Stage Productions will present the production, and it was announced that Casey Nicholaw, a Tony Award winner for “The Book of Mormon,” will direct. Michael Mitnick will write the book.

The production company announced it was working with partners Jeffrey Richards and Jerry Frankel as producers. The two currently have “The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess” and “Gore Vidal’s The Best Man” on Broadway. James L. Nederlander, president of the Nederlander Organization that produces the current hit “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark,” also will act as producer. National Lampoon founding publisher, Matty Simmons, will serve as executive producer of the project.

As of yet, no casting information has been announced for either Belushi’s Bruto Blutarsky or any of his cohorts like Otter, Boon, Pinto or D-Day. All were members of the Delta Tau Chi fraternity in the 1978 film, and had to save the fraternity from being removed from campus. Belushi’s Blutarsky was known for being in his seventh year of college and having a grade point average of 0.0

No dates have yet been set for the production.

Barenaked Ladies have become known for their quirky rock songs, and have had hits with tunes like “One Week,” “If I Had a $1000000,” “The Old Apartment” and “Brian Wilson.” The also are known for writing the theme song to the successful CBS sitcom “The Big Bang.” The band released their most recent studio album, All in Good Time, in 2009, and released a greatest hits record called Hits from Yesterday & the Day Before last year.