My Best Friends Wedding musical postpones opening to fall 2021

The new musical is set to star Alexandra Burke and will be directed by Rachel Kavanaugh.

My Best Friend's Wedding, a new musical based on the 1997 film starring Julia Roberts, has postponed its opening due to the Covid-19 theatre shutdowns. The production will now open in September 2021 at the Manchester Palace Theatre, ahead of a tour of the UK and Ireland. The show, which is set to be directed by Rachel Kavanaugh, was originally scheduled to open on September 19, 2020 at the Plymouth Theatre Royal.

Alexandra Burke is set to star as Julianne, the role originated by Roberts onscreen. Known for winning The X Factor in 2008, Burke has also starred onstage in The Bodyguard, Sister Act, Chess, and Chicago. The new musical features a book by the film's screenwriter Ronald Bass and Jonathan Harvey (Beautiful Thing) and will feature a score of hits by Burt Bacharach and Hal David.

The story follows Julianne Potter, an emotionally closed off New York food critic, whose life is thrown into chaos when her best friend Michael O'Neal announces that he's getting married. Julianne and Michael made a pact that if they weren't married by age 28, they'd married each other, and with that birthday  getting closer, she realizes that she's in love with her best friend and must stop his wedding to the architecture college student Kimmy. Along with her editor and friend George, Julianne travels to Chicago with tricks up her sleeve to try to end the ceremony and win the heart of her best friend. 

In addition to Roberts, the film starred Dermot Mulroney as Michael, Rupert Everett as George, and Cameron Diaz as Kimmy and was directed by P.J. Hogan. The film's soundtrack features such Burt Bacharach and Hal David hits as "Wishin' and Hopin'," "I Say a Little Prayer," and "What the World Needs Now is Love."