EXCLUSIVE: John Wells has teamed with Tony-winning theater and opera director Ivo van Hove on Doll, a psychological thriller series set in the ruthless world of a modern music conservatory, which is in development at Warner Bros. Television. Van Hove’s artistic collaborator Jan Versweyveld is set to serve as production and lighting designer on the project, which marks the duo’s first foray into scripted television.
Doll is written by Matthew-Lee Erlbach (Tell Me Lies, Kings of America) who was inspired by his experience training his own classical voice at one of the top music conservatories in the country and experiencing their cutthroat environment first-hand.
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Set in an elite NYC music conservatory, Doll follows Nora, a working-class soprano with a dark past, punk ambitions and an outsized voice who gets the role of a lifetime that threatens to destroy her life. Thrust into a world of sex, drugs, ambition and madness, Nora struggles to survive in the dangerous world of modern opera, music, and art.
“It is an incredible honor to collaborate with once-in-a-generation artists Ivo and Jan and the prolific John Wells Productions to bring this raw, unflinching portrait of my experience as an ambitious young opera singer to life,” added Elbach. “Together, we are going to create something gorgeous and terrifying—and, dare I say, operatic.”
Wells and Erin Jontow are executive producers for John Wells Productions. van Hove, Versweyveld and Erlbach also executive produce. Warner Bros. TV, where John Wells Prods. has been based for many years, is the studio.
“We are beyond thrilled to be working with Ivo and Jan on Doll,” said Wells. “As they have shown in their acclaimed works on Broadway, in Europe and throughout the world, Ivo and Jan are known for pushing boundaries, their extraordinary visual storytelling, and their urgent and moving productions. We’re fortunate to be working with such visionary artists as Ivo and Jan to help bring Matthew’s riveting script to life.”
van Hove has directed Broadway revival productions of Arthur Miller’s A View from the Bridge, for which he received a Tony Award and a Laurence Olivier Award, and The Crucible as well as Lee Hall’s Network and Stephen Sondheim’s West Side Story, among others.
“We were overwhelmed by the intense beauty and roughness of Matthew’s script for Doll, said van Hove and Versweyveld. “Characters driven by an unquenchable inner fire to make it as opera singers at the highest level possible. We are extremely excited to be part of this wonderful project, and to be working with Wells, Jontow and Erlbach.”
The deal was negotiated by Ned Haspel, Chief Operating Officer for John Wells Prods. van Hove and Versweyveld are repped by UTA and Schreck, Rose, Dapello. Erlbach is repped by CAA, Peter Dealbert at 42 management, and Ziffren Brittenham.
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