Faculty Member David Henry Hwang Writes Disney Musical, 'Hunchback'

Tony Award-winning playwright and director of the graduate playwriting program David Henry Hwang has a lot to celebrate this month. His play, Soft Power, just won six Ovation Awards including best production. It was also recently announced on Deadline that he has been hired by Disney to write Hunchback, a live-action musical adaptation of the Victor Hugo novel. Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz will write the music.

Hwang’s work includes the plays Chinglish, Yellow Face, Kung Fu, Golden Child, and The Dance and the Railroad. His Broadway musicals include the Elton John & Tim Rice collaboration Aida, the revival of Flower Drum Song, and Disney’s animated Tarzan. He is best known for the play (and film) M. Butterfly which was revived on Broadway in 2017 directed by Julie Taymor and starring Clive Owen. Hwang’s collaboration with composer Jeanine Tesori, Soft Power, opened last May in Los Angeles. He is America’s most produced living opera librettist as well.