Elton John, Vermont natives head creative team of 'Devil Wears Prada' musical

Visit the website for “The Devil Wears Prada, the Musical” and you’ll encounter the home page that lists the creative team: Elton John and a pair of Vermonters.

“I do not tire of how delightful it is that two Vermont girls are writing this,” one of those Vermonters, Kate Wetherhead, told the Burlington Free Press in a video meeting last week that included the other Vermonter on the creative team, Shaina Taub. “It’s hilarious given that we’re not fashionistas in any way.”

The musical, based on the novel by Lauren Weisberger and the 2006 film starring Meryl Streep and Anne Hathaway, centers on a young woman trying to navigate her way through the fashion-magazine industry. “The Devil Wears Prada, the Musical” opens July 19 in Chicago and is expected to land on Broadway as soon as 2023.

John wrote the music for “The Devil Wears Prada, the Musical” while Taub, a Waitsfield native, wrote the lyrics. Wetherhead, from Burlington, wrote the book, or script, for the musical. The production that runs in Chicago through Aug. 21 features a third Vermonter, Liana Hunt; the Morrisville native who performed on Broadway in “Newsies” and “Mamma Mia,” is in the musical’s ensemble.

Should “Prada” get to New York next year, it’ll keep the string going of musicals with significant Vermont ties hitting Broadway every four years. “Fun Home,” based on the graphic novel by Alison Bechdel of Bolton and featuring in its cast Oscar Williams of Charlotte, premiered on Broadway in 2015. “Hadestown,” created by Vermont musician Anais Mitchell with arrangements by Vermont musician Michael Chorney, debuted on Broadway in 2019. Both won the Tony Award for Best Musical.

John, Taub team up

Wetherhead and Taub came up through the Vermont theater scene. Both performed in “Annie” by Lyric Theater, albeit a decade apart – Wetherhead in 1988 and Taub in 1998.

Taub has been a rising star off-Broadway for years. She performed in the off-Broadway version of “Hadestown,” rose to renown for her work with the Public Theater’s “Shakespeare in the Park” productions and this spring led the off-Broadway premiere of her own potentially Broadway-bound musical, “Suffs,” which received strong reviews while struggling with COVID-related cancelations.

She and John began writing songs for the musical more than three years ago. “I got three or four candidates; Shaina was my favorite,” John says in a video provided by “The Devil Wears Prada.” “We got on like a house on fire from the very word ‘go.’ She’s brilliant at bringing characters to life. She just knows how to do it.”

From ‘Legally Blonde’ to ‘Prada’

Wetherhead joined “The Devil Wears Prada” in early 2020. She performed on Broadway in 2007 in the musical version of “Legally Blonde” and a few years later co-created the theater-based web series “Submissions Only.” Kevin McCollum, producer for “The Devil Wears Prada, the Musical,” got to know Wetherhead while he was a producer for the third season of “Submissions Only.”

McCollum told the musical’s director, Anna D. Shapiro, about Wetherhead, who was asked to write a few demo scenes for “The Devil Wears Prada.” Based on that audition, Wetherhead got the job.

“I wasn’t looking for it. It really did find me,” she said of the job writing the book for “The Devil Wears Prada.” “I really feel like I’ve gone through my life and my career with a great deal of ambition. But this is beyond my imagination.”

Wetherhead said she still can’t believe she’s working with John, a “global rock icon,” and is a “fan girl” of Taub and Shapiro, a Tony winner for directing the play “August: Osage County.”

“Even now, sitting in the theater, I’m sitting staring at that stage saying, ‘How am I involved in this?’” Wetherhead said days before the scheduled opening of “Prada.” “It feels pretty out-of-body most of the time.”

Bouncing back from COVID delays

After shutting down for several weeks, the creative team worked on “The Devil Wears Prada” remotely, and eventually in-person, during the first few months of the COVID-19 pandemic. “We wouldn’t have chosen that delay,” according to Taub, but she said it did give her, John and Wetherhead time to improve the songs and story for the musical.

They’re excited to finally be on the verge of bringing “The Devil Wears Prada, the Musical” to theatergoers.

“It’s a really joyful, fun, entertaining, funny, delightful show” that’s coming during hard times for many people, Taub said. “I’m hoping it will uplift and make people feel good.” The production also has depth, Taub said, as it tells the story of a young woman making her way in the world.

“It’s meeting a moment in a way that will feel like a reprieve for people who are going to want to sit and be fully entertained for a couple of hours,” Wetherhead said. “It really packs a punch in terms of entertainment value.”

She and Taub head into the opening of “Prada” with their minds partly on their Vermont roots helping them get to this point. Wetherhead will return to Vermont for a reunion next month of alumni who came through the Burlington High School theater department.

Taub recounted her experience with Vermont theater companies including Lyric, the Valley Players and Stowe Theatre Guild. “It was amazing,” she said “I was extremely fortunate to have that sort of artistic upbringing.”

She’s looking to the future, not just the past, for Vermont’s theater community.

“Maybe one day if Lyric does ‘Devil Wears Prada’ – how fun would that be?” Taub said.

Contact Brent Hallenbeck at bhallenbeck@freepressmedia.com. Follow Brent on Twitter at www.twitter.com/BrentHallenbeck.

This article originally appeared on Burlington Free Press: Elton John, Vermonters head creative team of 'Devil Wears Prada' musical