A Bill and Ted stage musical will premiere next year

A stage musical based on the Bill & Ted films is in development, with a workshop scheduled at Emerson College in Boston from 12 to 20 September.

Bill & Ted’s Most Excellent Rock Opera is written by Chris Matheson, co-writer of the 1989 film Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure, with an original score by Grandaddy founder Jason Lytle. Reported by Playbill, the show is produced by Freedom Theatricals and Radar Pictures, in partnership with Emerson College, Berklee College of Music, and Boston Conservatory. A world premiere in Boston is planned for 2027, with dates to be announced.

The musical follows Bill and Ted as they turn their school history report into a live rock opera, with historical figures from the films, including Beethoven, Joan of Arc, Abraham Lincoln, Genghis Khan, Napoleon, and Sigmund Freud, appearing as their onstage band.

Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure was released in 1989 and starred Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter, who later appeared together on Broadway in Waiting for Godot. The franchise continued with the films Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey in 1991 and Bill & Ted Face the Music in 2020, along with television series, comics, and video games.

The creative team includes music director Nathan Dame and music supervisor Jonathan Brielle. Showtown Theatricals is general manager. Miller and Corey Brunish are producing for Freedom Theatricals, and Ted Field, Anthony Tringali, and Michael Napoliello are producing for Radar Pictures. Eric Paris is producing the workshop for Emerson Stage.

Any signs of a UK transfer are unlikely to materialise for quite some time.