‘Particle Fever’ Musical In Development For Broadway, Based On 2013 God Particle Doc

A new musical inspired, in part, by the Higgs boson and the discovery of the so-called God Particle is heading to Broadway, with David Henry Hwang and Suffs director Leigh Silverman as part of the creative team.

The musical Particle Fever is in the early stage of development. A production timeline and casting details have not been disclosed.

Based on the 2013 documentary film of the same name, Particle Fever will feature a book by Hwang (M. Butterfly, Yellow Face) with music and lyrics by Bear McCreary (TV’s Battlestar Galactica, the film Godzilla: King of the Monsters) and composer/lyricist Zoe Sarnak. Director Silverman was Tony-nominated this year for Suffs and will direct this season’s Yellow Face, also Hwang.

Producers Megan Kingery and Annie Roney made today’s announcement.

“Theater artists, like scientists, are called to probe the biggest, most confounding questions in the universe,” said producers Kingery and Roney in a statement. “How lucky we are to have such a stellar team of fellow explorers to collaborate with on Particle Fever. As anyone who has followed their careers would expect, David Henry Hwang, Bear McCreary, Zoe Sarnak and Leigh Silverman are creating something brilliantly authentic with this work. Even more impressive – they’ve uncovered the inherent hilarity and joy that lie at the heart of human ambition, making this journey every bit as entertaining as it is enlightening.”

Based on the 2013 documentary film about the largest scientific experiment ever undertaken, Particle Fever follows the elite team of scientists who discovered “The God Particle” and forever altered mankind’s understanding of its own existence in the process. Today’s announcement described the musical as filled with “heart, humor, and hope,” and called it an “exploration of the very nature of exploration itself, Particle Fever proves that even the very best theories are often no match for reality.”

An industry-only reading of Particle Fever, directed by Silverman, was held recently in New York City.