Zadan and Meron to remake 1776 for the small screen

Playbill.com reports that out producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron (Chicago, Life With Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows) plan a remake of the Broadway show 1776 for ABC. The show deals with the complicated process of getting the Continental Congress to sign the Declaration of Independence and to go to war with the British Empire. The show's author, Peter Stone, died last week at the age of 73. (Stone's credits also include Charade, Father Goose, and the Broadway musical Titanic.) Zadan and Meron had the opportunity recently to lunch with Stone, and now Meron says, "We now just have this fervor about doing this really well and dedicating it to his memory." Originally staged on Broadway in 1969, 1776 was turned into a theatrical film in 1972 and then later saw a Broadway revival in 1997.