Girls Just Want to Have Fun: 1985 Teen Comedy-Inspired Musical in the Works

A musical inspired by the Jessica Parker and Helen Hunt-led 1985 teen comedy film Girls Just Want to Have Fun is in development, Variety reports.

According to Variety, Jennifer Werner (The Book of Mormon) will be directing the planned musical adaptation. M. Dickson (Superstore) and Lauren Marcus (Tick, Tick… Boom) are teaming up to write the musical’s book.

Girls Just Want to Have Fun is considered a cult favorite

Directed by Alan Metter and written by Amy Spies, Girls Just Want to Have Fun — which was inspired by Cyndi Lauper’s hit 1983 song of the same name — follows gymnast Janey Glenn (Parker), who has always followed her strict Army colonel father’s rules and orders.

When she meets Lynne Stone (Hunt), known as someone who is carefree and kind of a rebel, Janey — for the first time — learns to disobey her father and decides to live her life a little by joining a television dance competition show thanks to Lynne’s encouragement.

Though the film received unfavorable box office revenue and mixed critical reception, the teen comedy eventually became a cult film with a massive following.

Besides Parker and Hunt, Girls Just Want to Have Fun also stars Lee Montgomery as Jeff Malene, Shannen Doherty as Maggie Malene, Holly Gagnier as Natalie Sands, Morgan Woodward as J.P. Sands, Ed Lauter as Colonel Glenn, and Jonathan Silverman as Drew Boreman to mention a few.

The film is produced by Chuck Russell (The Mask), with Stuart Cornfeld (The Fly) and James G. Robinson (The Last of the Mohicans) having served as the film’s executive producers.

The film’s synopsis reads as follows: “Though she’s a talented gymnast, Janey has always followed the orders of her strict Army colonel father and stayed out of the spotlight. However, when she moves to a new town and meets the carefree Lynne, she disobeys her father for the first time in her life. With Lynne’s encouragement, Janey enters a TV dance competition — and soon finds herself with both a cute dance partner and an archrival who is dead set on getting Janey eliminated from the contest.”