'Younger' Could Become A Broadway Musical, According To The Book's Author

When Younger was first greenlit to be adapted from page to screen for TVLand, it seemed like another small-time series for Viacom's former oldies channel. Based on the 2005 novel by Pamela Redmond, Younger is the story of a 40-year-old Liza Miller. With her marriage over and needing a job, she pretends to be 26 to get hired in publishing at Empirical Press. Led by Sutton Foster as Liza, the series was a surprise hit and is now heading into Season 7, making it TVLand's longest-running series. Adding to the source material's gravitas? Younger could eventually become a Broadway musical, Redmond hinted in a new interview.

Younger's success has been buoyed along by its stellar cast. In addition to Foster, Hilary Duff, Debi Mazar, Miriam Shor, and Nico Tortorella co-star. Duff plays Kelsey Peters, Liza's coworker and an actual 20-something. Mazar is Maggie Amato, Liza's BFF and roommate; Shor plays Diana Trout, Liza's boss.

Nico Tortorella is Josh, the hot younger guy who initially mistakes Liza for being in her 20s, and gives her the idea to lie about her age in the first place. But Josh isn't Liza's only love interest; there's also Charles Brooks (Peter Hermann), head and heir of Empirical Press, who is in his 50s, and much more in line with Liza's real age.

But there's something much of Younger's cast has in common along with the show they're in: They've got musical and/or theater backgrounds. Foster has won two Tony Awards for Leading Actress in a Musical; Duff, of course, was a Disney pop-princess. Mazar was a principal dancer who worked for Madonna in the 1990s, and Shor starred in Hedwig and the Angry Inch, both on stage and on film.

With that kind of firepower, fans of Younger have been joking about a musical for years. They've even gotten a taste of what a Younger musical could look like, with a few song-and0dance numbers like "9 to 5" and "The Lonely Goatherd" throughout the series. Now, it sounds like a full-blown Broadway show could actually happen.

Speaking to The Dipp, Redmond revealed:

I have had interest, actually [from] producers on Broadway. I think it would be a great Broadway show, when Broadway comes back.

One reason Redmond would love to take it to Broadway is that, unlike the TV series, which is owned by TVLand, she holds the rights to a stage show. "The way the rights issues work for me, and I think for most people who sell their books to a television show, is that [Darren Star] and TV Land own everything: the film and television rights to all the characters, plots, situations, title, everything on that side of it," she said to The Dipp. "But I own the book rights — and theatrical rights, as well!"

With Broadway shuttered until the end of the year due to the coronavirus pandemic, there's not much that can happen yet. But fans are still hopeful to one day see Foster on stage as Liza. Meanwhile, Younger Season 7 will return in 2021.