Robin Hood is headed for TV. And if all goes as planned, radio and the stage, too.
Boardwalk Entertainment Group has inked a deal at NBC to develop Robin Hood & Marian, as well as a project about the music business in the 1970s. Both will be 10-hour event series. The former is expected to include 60 original songs, while the latter, which counts Adam Levine as a producer through his 222 Productions, will feature contemporary stars rerecording ’70s classics. Songwriters Evan “Kidd” Bogart and Emanuel “Eman” Kiriakou (Beyoncé, Rihanna, Demi Lovato) will collaborate on the music and RCA Records will serve as label partner.
“These projects are not typical musicals — we don’t have dance numbers and kick lines,” says Boardwalk’s Tim Bogart, who, along with brother Evan, is the son of Casablanca Records founder Neil Bogart (the disco trailblazer’s life story will be told in the Boardwalk production Spinning Gold, starring Justin Timberlake). “The marriage of visuals and music is constantly evolving. Robin Hood & Marian [can] take this new form to the next level.” A stage tour will follow.
Adam Levine and Behati Prinsloo Marry In Mexico
Sony TV project The 1970s will explore the decade through the eyes of music executives and artists. “It was the beginning of the end of independent labels and the driving force transitioning into the corporate takeover of the business,” says Boardwalk co-founder Gary Randall. Levine, who’s in business with NBC through The Voice and was brought onboard by NBC Entertainment chairman Bob Greenblatt, has been hands-on with song choices and casting current acts to play the iconic artists and rerecord the era’s classics.
This article first appeared in the Aug. 23rd issue of Billboard.