You can now see ‘Brokeback Mountain’ on stage as a musical

The film Brokeback Mountain is just as popular today as it was at its release date seventeen years ago. And now, it has been announced that the iconic story of two cowboys in love will take to the stage in the form of a musical. 

The short story originally told by novelist Annie Proulx was adapted into a Hollywood film in 2004, with a star-studded cast line-up of Jake Gyllenhaal as rodeo cowboy Jack Twist, Heath Ledger as his love interest and ranch hand Ennis Del Mar; and their significant others played by Michelle Williams and Anne Hathaway.

It has been hailed as the go-to quintessential movie for the LGBTQIA+ community, as it tells the story of two men who have to marry their girlfriends whilst keeping up a love affair over the course of 20 years. The story at the centre of it all is now being adapted through song, with original music by singer-songwriter Dan Gillespie Sells (lead singer of The Feeling).

In a press release today, it was detailed that the stage debut will take place at the new London theatre, @sohoplace, with a script written by Ashley Robinson. The two protagonists will be played by Mike Faist of 2021’s West Side Story, and star of Manchester By the Sea (2016) and Mid90s (2018) Lucas Hedges. Faist will play Twist and Hedges will act as Del Mar, as the song aspect is supposed to narrate the internal feeling of the cowboys, who were men of few words in the film.

In the press statement, Proulx shared her feelings about the new adaptation. She said: “Brokeback Mountain has been recreated in several different forms, each with its own distinctive moods and impact. Ashley’s script is fresh and deeply moving, opening sight lines not visible in the original nor successive treatments.”

Writer Ashley Robinson has said that he is “honoured to be entrusted by Annie Proulx to bring new life in new form to her timeless and universal story. A story that means so much to so many, and will surely mean as much to a whole new generation.”