Melissa Etheridge Writing Songs For Mystic Pizza Musical, Thus Fulfilling 30 Rock‘s Prophecy

Paras Griffin/Getty Images

Melissa Etheridge Writing Songs For Mystic Pizza Musical, Thus Fulfilling 30 Rock‘s Prophecy

Paras Griffin/Getty Images

Mystic Pizza, the 1988 romantic comedy starring Annabeth Gish, Lili Taylor, and a young Julia Roberts (plus an even younger Matt Damon in a bit part), is probably not the first movie you’d expect to be adapted into a Broadway musical. Yet that’s exactly what’s happening. Deadline reports that Gordon Greenberg will write the book with Sas Goldberg and direct, with songs by Melissa Etheridge (who’s been in the news a lot this week between this and singing the national anthem at an NFL playoff game Sunday).

A Mystic Pizza adaptation on Broadway is kind of odd. But in our age of endless reboots, with stage versions of The Notebook, Pretty Woman, Tootsie, and Beetlejuice also in the works, it’s not that notable — except, as Vulture points out, this one is an instance of parody preceding reality. Back in 2007, there was a subplot in 30 Rock’s season 2 premiere about how actress Jenna Maroney (Jane Krakowski) had gained a lot of weight over the summer because her role in Mystic Pizza: The Musical had required her to eat four pieces of pizza on stage every show, adding up to 32 slices a week. They even recorded a song from the fictional musical called “Make A Pizza.” (Sample lyrics: “Love is a pizza with everything on top.”)

Whether Etheridge is planning to include that tune in the real Mystic Pizza play remains to be seen. I’d rather she just find a way to work “Come To My Window” into the plot, personally. Revisit 30 Rock’s “Make A Pizza” below.

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