Recently announced, Dee Rees will write and direct the musical The Kyd’s Exquisite Follies.

Deadline broke the story with an overview that reads, “described as a swirling, futuristic roller-coaster journey of a young musician who catapults herself from the anonymity of her hometown of Same Ol’, Same Ol’ to the bright lights and plastic sights of the fabled It City in search of stardom.”

Many of you may be familiar with Rees work from Pariah, a Sundance fave, the Netflix original Mudbound, which received four Oscar nominations, or Bessie, which premiered on HBO and starred Queen Latifah depicting the life of singer Bessie Smith.

On creating the musical, Rees’ said, “I was inspired by the AfroPunk and SteamFunk scenes and want to re-imagine the whole Follies genre for today, lift it out of the problematic tropes of the past and invest it with a queer, edgy energy.”

“She’s an artist I’ve admired and wanted to work with for a long time— she’s such a creative producer and has a vast range of styles and references. She’s a genius and the music we’re making is exciting as hell. People are gonna be surprised. I can’t wait,” Rees shared on working with Santigold, the composer for the musical.

A debut date has yet to be announced.

-Porscheoy Brice

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Photo: Screengrab by author