New Fiddler on the Roof musical film adaption in the works

A new film adaption of hit musical Fiddler on the Roof is in the works.

With music by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick and a book by Joseph Stein, Fiddler on the Roof made its debut on Broadway in 1964.

An Oscar winning movie version was released in 1971 and now a new adaption is in the works.

Deadline reports that MGM is behind the new production which will be directed by Hamilton’s Thomas Kail with a screenplay by Dear Evan Hansen scribe Steven Levenson. The pair recently worked together on hit TV series Fosse/Verdon.

Kail will produce together with Dan Jinks and Aaron Harnick.

MGM Film Group Chairman Michael De Luca said: “MGM’s nearly centuries-long legacy of great film musicals continues with the great Tommy Kail’s new feature adaptation of one of Broadway’s most enduring classics.

“Along with the formidable team of Dan, Aaron, and Steven, we are thrilled they have come aboard to steward one of the great musicals to the big screen.”

Based on Sholem Aleichem’s tales of Tevye the Dairyman, Fiddler on the Roof centres around Tevye and his five daughters. With the help of a colorful and tight-knit Jewish community, Tevye tries to protect his daughters and instil them with traditional values in the face of changing social mores and the growing anti-Semitism of Czarist Russia.

The original Broadway production won nine Tony Awards, including Best Musical. The 1971 film adaption won three Oscars and was nominated for five more.