Nicholas Hytner to direct musical adaptation of The Sweet Smell of Success

Gay British director Nicholas Hytner (The Madness of King George, Carousel) will be in charge of the upcoming stage musical adaptation of The Sweet Smell of Success, according to syndicated columnist Liz Smith. The score will be by Marvin Hamlisch (A Chorus Line), and the book by John Guare (Six Degrees of Separation). The production will star John Lithgow (Third Rock From the Sun) as powerful gossip columnist J.J. Hunsecker and Brian Darcy James (Broadways Titanic) as press agent Sidney Falco. The show is set to open in Chicago this December and work its way to Broadway by February or March of 2002.